The Calm Before the Storm
by Stryder2008
Summary: They thought it was over, but the last year has been anything but easy. Danny has recovered from his injuries and Steve is recovering from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But one man wants nothing more than to make Five-0 pay for his losses. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH Friendship
1. Missed Call

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

Please take a minute and drop me a review if you're interested in seeing this story play out.

 **Chapter One:**

 _Missed Call_

Danny sat on a natural rock wall and watched as the tides rolled in. He'd left work early to try and collect his thoughts. The weather was just starting to shift as Hawaii rolled into the last part of October. He loved the holiday seasons that were rapidly approaching, but he was also dealing with a lot of changes in his life that were making things more difficult than normal. The sun was just setting over the vast expanse of Blue Ocean and the gentle oranges and yellows were being reflected off the water in an intoxicating way. It was at moments like this that Danny couldn't deny that he'd come to think of Hawaii as his home away from home.

He would always be a New Jersey boy through and through. But at least now he could claim to be an Oahu resident without dying a little inside every time he had to check that box. Grace had taken to the Islands much faster than her stubborn father, but he'd caught up.

It had been almost a year since he'd been taken and the memories of those moments had never resurfaced. Danny still suffered from nightmares. He was trapped in a small space and he hurt, everywhere. But he never made it out of the darkness, somehow he always drowned; Danny could feel the water closing over his head. He couldn't breathe, the tightness in his lungs restricting to the point that his vision would black out. Then and only _then_ would he see Grace standing over a grave, two badges in her hands and tears streaking her youthful face.

Danny still didn't understand where the dream had come from, but he would lurch out of bed, soaked through with cold sweat. His heart would be racing in his chest and then the images would fade away into the locked vault that he couldn't access. It was terrifying. They weren't every night, but they would sneak up and attack him when he was most emotionally vulnerable.

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, his dress shirt pulling across his broad back. The last two months had been truly terrible for not only Danny, but for Steve as well. The Jersey detective had lost his little brother to the brutal violence of Marco Reyes and then Danny had been brought down to the scumbags level when he hadn't been able to stop himself from killing the man in cold blood. But then less than four weeks later, Steve had been taken by Wo-Fat and tortured. He'd had his mind messed with in ways that Danny could never truly comprehend.

Those hours of searching for Steve had been some of the worst Danny had dealt with since he'd learned of Mattie's murder. He'd been terrified that not only had he lost his little brother, but also that he'd lost his brother here in Hawaii. _And oh my god_ …the moment he'd shoved that door open in the dingy basement of the laundry and he'd seen both their bodies motionless on the wet concrete? _There are no words to describe the levels of internal pain that rampaged through him._ He'd softly called to Steve and there hadn't been immediate answer. For a moment Danny had been terrified that they were too late and Wo-Fat had finally managed to take down the SEAL.

The light evening breeze wafted through his blonde hair and Danny took a deep breath before swinging his legs back over the wall and shoving to his feet. The black Camaro sat parked behind him and he smiled at the glassy reflection in the highly polished sheen of her black paint. He was reminded of Agent Hanna, the man had wanted to name his car 'Winifred' or 'Winnie' for short. Danny snorted. There was no way in hell he was calling his car 'Winnie' or any other name for that matter. _It was a car for Christ's sake._

He slipped into the buttery soft black leather seats and took a deep breath before firing up the engine and listening for a moment to the magnificent purr of the powerful V-8. Danny had never been someone that cared much about classic cars, but something about the Camaro had 'spoken' to him when he'd moved to the Island. He rolled his eyes when he considered that the same _something_ had also spoken to Steve, since he insisted on driving Danny's car.

The sun had dropped below the horizon and the soft hues of sunset had drained away into the dusky darkness of night. The smell of the ocean wafted through Danny's open window as he drove. He thought about gong home, but turned toward Steve's instead. His friend had been quiet since his abduction and Danny was worried about everything that Steve wasn't saying. It wasn't that the other man as pushing him away or anything, but he wasn't exactly an open book.

Too many years of secrets and _classified_ missions that the military man _couldn't_ talk about had defined who he'd become…and that was a secretive man that kept most things close to the vest. Danny had managed to weasel inside the wall, but that didn't mean that weren't padlocks on the gates.

The road wound around the bluff and Danny's gaze was drawn to something off in the trees. The blinking of flashers had him pulling off the road and grabbing his sidearm. He'd learned a lesson while dealing with everything over the last year. _Call in when you're investigation something._

He quickly dialed Steve's number, when it went to voice he frowned. The man was probably sitting out back watching the tides come in. "Hey Steve, you better not have drank all the beer. I'll be there soon and it better be cold this time." Danny took a deep breath. "There's someone off the road on Kaulakue bluff, I'm go make sure they're okay. I'll call if it turns out to be anything." He pressed 'end' and then moved toward the car buried inside the tree line.

It was an older Camry, the front fender smashed in and blood smeared over the grill. Danny lifted his weapon and slipped around the side of the car. A wild boar was kicking its legs as it died. Its lifeblood seeping into the mossy covered grass of the jungle floor. The detective immediately pulled his phone to his ear after dialing 911. Inside the car was a young woman. She was unconscious, a gash stretching across her forehead where she'd slammed into the steering wheel.

"This is Detective Danny Williams with Five-0. I'm out on Kaulakue bluff and I came across an accident. The driver is unconscious and breathing, but I need an ambulance at my location." He took another step toward the woman; it took him a moment before he recognized her. It was Grace's tennis instructor. "Crap, I know her. Her name's Jenny Redding."

Danny didn't dare move her as he waited for the ambulance and she didn't show any signs of waking up. He wandered back to the boar, hoping that the damn thing had finally died. He stared down at the beast and did his best to ignore the metallic scent of blood that permeated the air around him. As he continued to case the surrounding area he found himself looking at something that didn't make any sense. There just beyond where the boar had died was a white envelope…with _Danny's name_ on it.

"What the hell?" He wondered out loud as he leaned over to pick it up. The cop turned it over in his hands and didn't see anything that looked strange. He supposed it could have flipped out of her car, although why she would have an envelope with his name on it was a mystery. Danny debated for a fraction of a moment and then his curiosity got the better of him. He carefully slid his fingers through the paper and ripped open the envelope.

In the darkness he didn't see the small puff of powder, but he was disappointed when the envelope turned out to be empty. He shrugged and started walking back toward the vehicle.

It was slow at first, the narrowing of his vision and the strange tightness in his chest. Danny blinked several times in an effort to clear his cloudy vision. He stumbled when his legs refused to obey and he went down on his knees. The ACL injury to his right knee screamed in protest as he landed on the hard and unforgiving ground. He tried to form the words as he sank to his ass in the wet grassy plants that covered the floor of the jungle. The sudden pounding of his blood inside his head had him starting to panic. Something was definitely wrong. Somewhere in the distance he heard the alternating tones of an ambulance.

And then there was nothing. Danny sank into the darkness as consciousness fled and his mind shut itself down.

H50 H50

Steve walked back toward the house as he toweled off the remaining water from his hair. He'd decided to take a late afternoon swim in the ocean and had taken longer than he'd anticipated as he cut through the waves. He'd left the office not much after Danny, his own reasons slightly different than his partners. Steve needed time to come to terms with what had happened to him in that basement.

He'd thought he was dead. He honestly did. No one knew where he was and they had no reason to suspect that he was still on the Island, let alone less than five miles from the palace. Steve was still trying to sift through the confusing memories that Wo-Fat had managed to place in his mind. Psychological torture was something that the SEAL was familiar with, but he'd never been subjected to it like that.

Normally when someone was tortured for information, it was something that that person actually knew and was refusing to tell. In this case? Steve hadn't had a clue where the man's father was. Hell, he'd like to know just as much as that sadistic son of a bitch did. So there had been no defense for him and then to have his memories altered? That had managed to break him in a way that nothing else had. Steve had been so convinced that his father was alive when he'd asked Danny to see him. It hadn't occurred to him that John wasn't around. His mind had told him that his father had survived Victor Hesse's assassination attempt.

Hearing that news from his best friend had been tantamount to betrayal. Even though he _knew_ that Danny hadn't been responsible. But in the dream version, his future partner had managed to save John McGarrett and Steve was a having a rough time coming to terms with the reality that that hadn't happened.

He didn't blame Danny or anything; it was just difficult to be around him at the moment. Steve glanced down at his phone and frowned when he saw he'd missed a call from Danny. Without even thinking he picked up the phone and headed into the house. He assumed that his partner was going to head over to see him. Steve pulled his lower lip between he teeth and took a deep breath before listening to the message.

The frown on his face increased as he listened to Danny's message. Some things were never going to change with the New Jersey cop. He couldn't just let well enough alone. His cop side, the side that insisted on helping people, would always trump his better judgment. Granted they hadn't heard anything from the missing member of the mafia group for more than a year, but that didn't mean that the guy wasn't still out there.

Steve ran his hand through his hair and sank onto one of the wooden chairs in his kitchen as he dialed Danny's number. It rang several times and then flipped over to voicemail. Steve's eyebrows cut down in rising concern as he dialed the number a second time. Again it clicked over to Danny's simple and professional message.

" _This is detective Danny Williams with Five-0, please leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. If this is an emergency, dial 911."_

Steve groaned. "Danny, it's Steve call me back."

He hung up and leaned back in the chair, staring at the small cellular device in expectation. When it finally did ring, Steve nearly jumped out of the chair he'd fallen asleep in. He blinked groggily and waited for his eyes to focus. It wasn't Danny calling, it was dispatch.

"McGarrett." He answered without thinking.

"Commander, this is officer Pua Kai—"

"—I know who you are Pua, why're you calling me at…" Steve looked at his watched and groaned. "2 am?"

Pua was silent for a moment before continuing. "Commander, do you know where detective Williams is?"

 _That_ had Steve sitting up ramrod straight in the chair, the sleepiness he'd been feeling moments earlier dissipating into nothing. "He should be at home, why?"

"We found his car out on Kaulakue bluff."

Steve's mind went into over drive as he was thrown back into that doctor's office last year when Danny had been taken with no evidence left for them to follow. That could not be happening again. The commander of the task force lunged up out of the chair and was immediately pulling on his boots and grabbing his keys as he headed for the door. All thoughts of sleep banished from his body. "Where exactly are you?" He listened as the young patrolman rattled off the information. "Call my team and get them out there, now."

"Yes sir. We've already contacted Lt. Kelly and Captain Grover. Officer Kalakaua hasn't answered as of yet—"

Steve froze at that. "Send an officer to Kono's house."

"Sir, is something wrong?"

The military man shook his head and climbed into his truck. "I don't know yet."

H50 H50

Chin pulled up to the bluff and parked behind Danny's Camaro. The hazard flashers were still blinking and the ambulance had been and gone with the woman from the car. Officers were just watching as the camry was hooked up and pulled onto the flatbead tow truck.

Grover was already there. He was talking to Pua off the main road. His eyes flickered up at Chin's arrival. "So what do we know?" Chin called as he walked toward the two men.

Grover shrugged. "Looks like a typical accident involving wildlife." His eyes were drawn over to Danny's car. "Except for Danny's abandoned vehicle, there doesn't seem to be anything weird here."

Chin rubbed at his tired eyes. "Yeah, except for that...did you canvas the area?"

Pua looked slightly chagrined as he shook his head. "We were helping the paramedics secure the accident victim and then we were going to canvas looking for detective Williams."

The two members of Five-0 sucked in a collective breath. "So there's a member of the task force's vehicle abandoned at an accident site that he called in and you didn't think that warranted looking into?" Grover couldn't help the frustration he was feeling at the inexperience of this younger generation of patrol officers.

Pua started to answer, but Chin held his hands up. "Lets worry about this later, right now we need to canvas this area and see if Danny's out there somewhere. There're a lot of wild boar in this area and something could have happened." Inside the older man was trying desperately to deny that something could have happened to the blonde detective. Too many things had gone wrong for the members of Five-0 in the last few years.

He was just stepping into the dense jungle when he heard Steve's truck rumble and then die, a door slammed. Chin hadn't taken a dozen steps off the beaten path when he saw a pair of legs sticking from beneath a patch of dense plants…and they were wearing Danny's patent leather loafers. "Oh no…come on Danny." He whispered as he rushed forward. "Grover! Over here!"

Chin sank to his knees and prayed that this hadn't been a murder disguised as an accident. He took a breath and crawled forward into the foliage. His small flashlight landing on Danny's face. It was pale and covered in sweat and his entire body was shaking. "Danny? Come on, brah…answer me." He called. Chin reached out and placed his hands on Danny's neck, the pulse there was too fast and thready to be safe. He heard someone crashing through the bushes and then the squeal of a boar had the native man scrambling for his sidearm. The boar broke through the brush barely six feet from where Danny lay, completely helpless. Chin's eyes widened in shock.

After having grown up on the islands, Chin knew that these animals were unpredictable and extremely territorial. The thing squealed again and then raced toward Chin, it's head swinging back and forth. Saliva being thrown in all directions and Chin knew that it was going to attack either himself or the helpless detective below him.

Steve's voice echoed through the air. "Chin!" He was too far away to help.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _The start to the final story in this particular hurt!Danny verse._ _It's all going somewhere I promise…and there is a point to this opening…I promise._

 **Please Review: It'll let me know if you guys are interested in the conclusion of this series.**


	2. Divide and Conquer

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Two:**

 _Divide and Conquer_

 _Danny leaned against the doorframe of his own apartment. He didn't know how to go inside. Grace was in there and he was going to have to tell her that her uncle Matt was dead. His heart clenched painfully at that thought and his eyes stung with unshed tears. He still couldn't believe that he'd actually thought that he was going to get his baby brother back. And in an effort to save Matt, he'd put Chin at risk and even Steve since he'd insisted on being there with Danny. And given how that trip to Columbia had turned out? Danny was grateful beyond words that Steve had insisted on going with him. But now there was so much guilt rolling around inside him that he was nearly drowning in it._

 _He was reluctantly drawn back into that dank rancid basement as he stood in front of his home, gathering strength. The fear that had been racing around inside him had peaked after Reyes looked up and motioned for his goons to bring 'Matthew' in the room…and then there had been the slow creaky roll of a hand truck instead of the footsteps he should have heard. Danny had stared at the rusty old barrel as his shocked mind tried to wrap itself around what he was seeing. He'd felt every emotion possible in a viscerally, painful way as they'd smashed into his mind and his heart broke._

 _He knew that Steve was watching him and that his friend had made the same connection as he had. These bastards had killed Matt and then stuffed his six-foot plus frame into a fifty-gallon steel drum. The detective in him understood that his brother wouldn't have fit without 'alteration' and Danny forced himself to shy away from those damaging thoughts. His incredibly vivid imagination had the ability to leave him a quivering mess if he let it._

 _H50 H50_

 _Steve watched in shocked sympathy, as Danny took in everything that barrel meant in the space of a single moment. The military man had been there, he knew what the other man had to be feeling. The hope and the fear as he'd listened to Hesse murder his own father from three thousand miles away. That was exactly the same thing Danny had to be feeling._

 _What they were seeing was so very tragic and yet Steve suspected that Danny's younger brother had probably been killed before they'd even made it to Columbia. But he had no intention of voicing that opinion to his devastated friend. It wouldn't do anything to help Danny deal with the guilt and the self-recrimination that was coming as he replayed this whole event over and over in his mind in the years to come. Steve knew that first hand._

 _A part of him had suspected that Danny wasn't done when they'd been hauled up the stairs and threatened. He'd seen that look on his partner's face before and it had led to Rick Peterson being shot in the kneecap after abducting Danny's daughter. God forbid the son of a bitch had actually 'hurt' the little girl. As Steve watched the compact form of his partner twist around and throw punch after punch at the men that had been their 'escorts', he knew Danny wasn't finished yet._

 _Steve hadn't even thought about it. He jumped in and took out two of the guards and retrieved the man's discarded weapon. The fully automatic firearm helped to turn the odds in their favor. Steve spun around just in time to see Danny disappearing back as he descended the steps in pursuit of the man he'd just knock unconscious, causing him to roll in front of Danny._

 _There had been something not quite sane in the blonde man's stormy eyes as he stalked toward Reyes._

" _What did I tell you?" Danny ground out through clenched teeth. His lifted his pistol to the drug lord's temple and pushed the muzzle painfully against the man's flesh and bone. Marco's eyes were wide in both shock and fear as he realized that he'd made a mistake…a fatal mistake, when he'd let Danny go. "What. Did. I. Tell. You?" The blonde asked again._

 _Steve hurried down the steps to offer both backup and support to his partner. He wasn't sure what Danny had planned, but he wasn't going to do it alone, whatever it was._

 _Danny's words were bit off in anger and pain as he backed the other man against the solid wooden table in the center of the room. "Look at me."_

 _When Reyes refused to meet Danny's sparking blue gaze, he pressed the pistol against his cheek. "Look at me." The Jersey cop repeated. His voice was ice cold, no emotion and Steve found he couldn't look away from what was happening._

 _As soon as Reyes turned his brown gaze and looked directly into Danny's eyes…all he saw there was 'resolve'. The sudden report of the pistol actually caught Steve slightly off guard. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but watching Danny kill another man in cold blood? That hadn't been it._

 _Reyes's body slid to the floor in front of Danny, folding in on itself as his life was extinguished in one trigger pull. Steve watched, waiting for Danny to do something. When the other man didn't so much as move, Steve finally started forward._

" _Danny?" He debated for a moment before reaching out and gently laying a supportive hand on the shorter man's shoulder. "We gotta go."_

 _Danny turned vacant eyes in his direction and nodded. His gaze slid over to the barrel that contained what was left of his beloved baby brother. "I can't leave him here." He finally whispered._

 _Steve swallowed his immediate response. He hadn't been suggesting that they leave Danny's brother's body, but he wasn't sure how they could get it out of Columbia. But the moment his partner turned destroyed hopeful eyes in his direction; Steve would have done anything to make it happen._

 _H50 H50_

" _Want some company?" Steve's voice interrupted Danny's musing and he turned in surprise._

 _While he was incredibly grateful to have someone help shoulder this responsibility, he knew that he hadn't told Steve he was meeting Grace and Rachel at his place. "How'd you know where I'd be?"_

 _Steve smiled, but there wasn't any real humor behind the action._

 _Danny's eyebrows cut down in thought and he pulled his lower lip between his teeth. "You watching me now?"_

" _After what happened in Columbia? Yes. I'm keeping an eye on you, Danno. Sue me."_

 _Danny took a deep breath and licked his lips. He wasn't sure what to say to that. If their positions had been reversed, he would've done the same thing for Steve. He knew that this behavior on the part of his navy SEAL partner would normally earn a rant, but Danny was too tired. He finally nodded. "Thank you." He managed._

 _H50 H50_

Steve crashed through the brush, his pistol drawn and fear nearly choking him as he saw the scene before him. Chin was kneeling over Danny, trying to protect him from the charging feral pig. Steve managed to pop off two rounds just as the boar closed the distance and started to attack. The older man's arm came up and the tusks of the animal scored through the tender flesh of Chin's arm.

"Chin! Roll to the side!" Steve screamed as he grabbed the dying animals back legs and shoved with everything he had. The thing screeched in such a _human_ tone that it sent shivers up and down Steve's spine. But he had to get that thing away from Danny and Chin before it eviscerated one of them.

The older man threw himself over Danny and away from the attack as the four hundred pound pig crashed to the ground. Blood dripped off its tusks and Chin was cradling his arm against his stomach. He scrambled back, afraid that he'd managed to hurt the man he was trying to protect.

Steve dropped to his knees next to his friends. His weapon still clenched in his hand as he leaned over Danny and Chin. "You okay?" He asked, as his eyes scanned Danny for new injuries.

Chin swallowed the pain and Steve pulled off his over shirt, quickly wrapping it around the bleeding gash on the other man's arm. Chin hissed in pain, but didn't flinch as Steve pulled the makeshift bandage tight. "Sorry." He said.

"It's okay. Just glad you got here when you did." His dark eyes dropped down to Danny's unconscious form.

Lou's voice broke through the air. "The ambulance is coming up, I'll show them where to go." He'd been further down the path when he'd heard the first shots and he wasn't as fast as he used to be. As soon as he'd seen that his teammates were okay, for the most part, he headed out to show the paramedics where to go.

"What happened?" Steve asked.

Chin shrugged and then winced when his arm pulled painfully. "I honestly don't know. It's a little like the Serin incident." He hated to put that thought in Steve's mind, but looking down at Danny's shivering body it was accurate.

"You think he was poisoned?" Steve asked quietly. His eyes sweeping the area as he looked for anything that might explain what had happened to his partner. Something caught his attention and he frowned before leaning over and grabbing the paper. The envelope had been opened, but that wasn't what worried him. It was seeing Danny's name written on the outside, which meant that the cop had opened it.

They were interrupted by approaching feet. The black boots of the paramedics jogged into their immediate area. Steve stood up and took a couple of steps away, giving the medical personnel room to help both his team members.

The paramedic leaning over Danny fired questions at Chin and Steve that they couldn't answer…and then the detective started to convulse.

"Shit." The man helping to carry Danny out to the waiting ambulance swore as he and his partner quickly set down the backboard.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked as he stopped.

"We need to know what the hell he was exposed to." They were running fluids and nothing seemed to be stopping the muscle spasms that were wracking the Jersey native's body.

The trip to the emergency room was frightening for the SEAL. He'd watched as the paramedics struggled to stabilize Danny and it was an awful feeling knowing that he was helpless to do anything about it. It reminded him of another time he'd been unable to change what was happening...

H50 H50

" _You should answer that…you don't speak to your father nearly enough." The lilt of the Irish accent didn't do anything to soften the blow of the words._

 _Steve's eyes flashed up and then he glanced down at the caller ID. It was his father's home number. He ground his teeth together and tried to force down the terrified premonition that worked its way up his throat._

 _Somehow they'd known that Steve would be moving Anton Hesse at this exact moment along this exact route and the only way that would have happened was if someone had sold him out. Steve didn't know who or how, but he understood that his mission had been 'leaked' to Victor and the arms dealer had used it to back him into a corner._

 _The moment his father called him 'champ', Steve had known that something was wrong. Never in his entire life had his father called him that. And that was when Steve's whole world fell apart. There are moments that define the future…the first had been when Steve's mother had been murdered and the second had been when his father had been murdered._

 _H50 H50_

That moment had felt eerily similar to how Steve felt at this exact moment. Danny's body relaxed with the injection of whatever was in the paramedic's syringe. But he didn't regain consciousness and that made the commander of Five-0 more nervous. He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes as he watched Danny's eyes flit back and forth beneath closed eyelids.

Whatever was happening, the detective was experiencing something in his unaware state. "Danny?" Steve asked. The ambulance rolled to a stop and the medical personnel jumped from the back of the vehicle.

They immediately had Danny in the care of the nurses and doctors of Hawaii's medical professionals. Steve followed more slowly. A doctor threw him a questioning glance and pointed at the waiting room.

"That's commander McGarrett, he goes where his partner goes." One of the nurses said without thinking.

Steve tossed a grateful nod in his direction as he followed the team with Danny through the double doors. "Do you know what he was exposed to?" The same nurse asked.

He shook his head, but held up the plastic encased envelope. "We haven't dusted it for prints, but it's possible that whatever Danny was exposed to is inside this envelope." The nurse nodded and took the bag.

"We'll try and be mindful of that." He immediately headed toward the labs.

"There's a private waiting room for family." A woman said. It took Steve a moment to realize that she was talking to him.

"Oh…okay. I'm not really family."

She smiled. "You're his partner, right?"

That was such a powder keg of a question. Because Steve and Danny were so much more than simply partners. Eventually he nodded.

"Then you are his family. Please follow me."

H50 H50

"You're sure he was exposed?"

A snort was the quick response. "I'm positive."

"So they have no idea how much worse this is about to get?" The quiet confidence in that question got another grunt from the other end of the phone call.

"Nah man…Five-0 ain't gonna know what hit them."

H50 H50

Danny could hear what was happening around him before he could respond. Several voices overwhelmed the room and he found that he couldn't focus on anyone specifically. None of that made any sense though. The last thing he could remember was the jungle and the woman in the car. But that was it. His head was throbbing painfully and the last thing Danny wanted to do was actually force his eyelids apart.

But then he heard the one voice he couldn't ignore. _Steve_ …

"So you don't know what it was?" He sounded frustrated more than anything else and that caught Danny off guard. His ninja-SEAL partner tended to keep his emotions under lock and key most of the time. So Danny found himself trying to remember what had happened that would cause this reaction.

As he tried to force his brain to recall…he was suddenly thrust into the throws of his dream. Trapped inside a slowly collapsing world, his lungs struggling for air, Danny found he couldn't breathe. Grace's face flashed before his eyes and he tried to suck air in. That must have gotten the room's attention, because the next thing he knew he felt a prick and he was again trying to wake up.

He swallowed thickly.

"Danny?" Steve's worried voice cut through the haze of thumping pain in his head. He groaned. "You're okay, buddy. Just take it slow." Steve's words were clear and Danny could feel his friend's fingers on his arm.

After a moment the bright white lights of the room assaulted his tender eyes and Danny slammed his eyelids shut again. "Too bright." He whispered.

Steve jumped up and clicked the lights in the room off. "Sorry…that better?"

"Not sure…don't wanna try it again." Danny's voice was horse and his throat was aching in a way that didn't make any sense. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I was hoping you could shed some light on that." Steve said. He was rewarded with two slate blue eyes as Danny slipped his eyelids apart slightly. "How do you feel?"

"My whole body feels like I ran a marathon and then drank some acid."

Steve smiled. "That good, huh?"

Danny's gaze flickered around the room and he frowned. "Have you talked to Grace? She okay?"

"I called Rachel. She is catching the first flight back to Hawaii with Grace and Charlie. She said she wanted to make sure you were going to be okay before she said anything to Gracie." He'd wanted to argue with Danny's ex-wife, but that wasn't his place and he'd learned that lesson last year when the accident had happened.

Something passed over Danny's face that Steve didn't recognize entirely. Whatever it was…it was gone so quickly that he wasn't sure he'd seen it there at all. The doctor walked into the room and nodded to Steve when he saw that Danny was awake.

"Glad to see you conscious, detective Williams." He grabbed the chart off the wall. "I'm doctor Kua."

"What's going on with me, doc?" Danny asked in a gravelly voice.

Steve leaned forward in his chair and waited for the answer as well.

Kua glanced down at the results of the blood tests. "We are still trying to isolate what's going with you, detective."

"Wait, you don't know?" Steve said before looking over at Danny.

"There are a lot of things about the human body that we are still learning. Whatever the powder was inside that envelope? It broke down in a way we've never seen before and we weren't able to isolate exactly what the compound was. I am sending it over to your laboratory for your own analyst to take a look at." The two cops looked over at one another.

Kono and Chin walked into the room at that exact moment and Danny licked his lips in concern. "So what did it do?" He spared the cousins a glance and small one sided smile before turning his attention back to the doctor.

"Whatever was in that envelope caused an over production of cerebral spinal fluid, which collected at the base of the brainstem. We've been able to slow your body's extreme reaction, but without knowing exactly what you were exposed to…you're brain is still over producing the fluid."

Chin sucked in a breath. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"We need to isolate that compound and then I can answer that question. At the moment I can't say for certain how your body will continue to react."

Danny inhaled and ignored the tiny pricks of pain in his head. "Is it going to kill me?"

"We just don't know enough to answer that, detective."

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Thank you so much for the fantastic response to this third part. As a 'thank you' I am including an excerpt from the next chapter._

" _Danny sat on the passenger side of his car, his gaze focused on palace. He was so tired lately. His exposure was a constant threat to his team…they never knew if he was going to zone out or drop into a convulsing mess. It had taken three days before the doctors had identified that adrenaline seemed to counteract the affects of the fluid collection. His own body would break down the fluid quicker with the adrenaline and it wasn't causing as many problems. But he also knew that they still needed to find the bastards that had attacked him…with a goddamned envelope. Cowards..._

 _It hadn't taken a gun…just Danny's innate personality traits that made him a fantastic detective._

 _The sudden appearance of man near the steps of the palace had Danny sitting up straighter. His gaze was then drawn over to Steve as he exited the building, his eyes on the folder in his hands. He didn't see the gun that the guy pulled from beneath his jacket, but Danny did…"_

 _Again, thank you for the reviews. The action is ramping up and we're going to learn what is going on with Danny and what that means for Five-0._

 **Please Review: Yes, I am a needy writer that likes to hear from you guys. Much appreciation.**


	3. Misdirection

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Three:**

 _Misdirection_

Steve wanted an answer to that question too, but he couldn't quite bring himself to voice it. Was this going to kill his partner?

"We don't know yet."

Kono sat down on the edge of Danny's stark white bed and gently pulled his shaky hand into her grasp. Danny forced a small smile before his blue gaze was drawn over to Chin. "What happened to your arm?" He asked quietly.

The older cop simply shrugged. "Pissed off a pig."

"What?"

Kono licked her lips and swallowed. "He saved your life." She answered simply. While her cousin never would have revealed that little _fact_ , she felt it was necessary for Danny to know what the people that loved him were willing to do to keep him safe.

"Kono, stop." Chin said quietly. "I'm fine, Danny. Just a scratch."

Steve watched the interplay between his team and swallowed his own guilty feelings. This wasn't the time or the place to delve into 'could have beens'. This also wasn't the first time he had failed to protect them. He glanced over at his partner and sighed.

Danny's eyes were hooded and guarded as he looked down at his lap. How had his need to help people left him in this position? If he hadn't stopped, then none of this would be happening. And yet he knew that he couldn't have driven past that accident even _knowing_ that this would be the result. His choice to kill Reyes flashed through his brain and he dropped his eyelids closed. Internally, he watched the red life drain out of the bullet hole in the center of the drug dealer's forehead.

While the Jersey cop didn't feel remorse about the fact that Marco Reyes was dead. He did feel guilty about how it had happened. Danny had been raised in a devout catholic family and he knew that he would burn in hell for that one choice. There weren't enough 'Hail Marys' or 'Our Fathers' to erase what he had done that day in Columbia. But Danny had thought that he'd have the rest of his life to seek forgiveness in his own heart for that…but as he listened to what the doctor was saying, he wondered if that would actually be the case.

Danny looked over at Steve and found that he had to look away as he saw pain reflect in his friend's face. Everywhere he looked he saw the same denial, whether it was in Chin's dark gaze, or Kono's worried warm brown eyes.

"Doctor Kua, what do we do from here?" Steve finally found his voice.

"We'll have a better idea when we know exactly what detective William's was exposed to. Until then, there's nothing that we can do for you here that you can't do at home. Give us a few days to get you stabilized and then we'll track your progress from there."

The trip to Steve's house was short and filled with uncomfortable silence. It had been three days and no one had gotten much sleep in that time. The girl from the road had died from her injuries. _That_ had left Danny feeling like this whole thing had been worthless. Charlie was still trying to identify how the powder had broken down once it met the moisture of the Hawaiian air and Max had been drawn in to help out too.

The silence wasn't really from either of the men ignoring the other, it stemmed from an inability of knowing 'what' to say. Danny was leaning heavily against the passenger door of McGarrett's truck. His arm was wrapped around his midsection in the hope that it would alleviate the slightly nauseated feeling in his stomach.

His gaze flickered to the passing foliage and the brilliant blue of the ocean. Danny's condition hadn't improved at this point, but the doctors felt they had enough information to continue searching for a way to reverse the effects without keeping him longer. That had made the cop slightly pleased and enormously concerned. It was a little like being told you have terminal cancer, so go home and wait for it to kill you.

His blue gaze slid back over to his partner and Danny took a deep breath. "You wanna talk about it?" He hazarded quietly.

Steve's shoulders rose and fell and he took a deep breath before looking over at Danny's hopeful expression. He debated on staying silent, but that hadn't worked out too well for him the last time. "I'm worried." So he answered.

Danny snorted. "Tell me something I don't know."

"You asked. That's what I'm thinking about." The truck turned into the gravel driveway of Steve's home and he pushed the gear shift lever into park. Danny stayed silent, but made no attempt to exit the vehicle. Steve sighed and continued. "This doesn't feel right. This guy…the way he's coming after us? It's too well executed. It's not—"

"—The normal run of a mill criminals we deal with. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Danny finished. They were so in tune with one another's investigative thought processes that they could have the conversation without the other person even being present. "Think this has anything to do with the guys we took down a year ago?" Danny didn't really want to ask that, but he knew that it needed to be considered.

Steve blew out a frustrated breath and ran his fingers through his tousled hair. "We can't rule it out." He shook his head and changed the subject. "I invited Grace and the cousins over for dinner."

At the mere thought of spending time with his daughter, Danny smiled. The headache had settled back into shards of pain and he found himself squeezing his eyelids shut. "Great…I'll take any distractions I can get right now."

The military man looked over in sympathy. "Your head?" Steve asked.

Danny managed a strangled groan and then nodded. He heard some rustling on the other side of the truck and then a water bottled was pressed into his open fingers. "Doctor Kua gave me these to give you if the pain got too bad." Two pills then dropped into the cop's other hand.

"These gonna knock me on my ass?" Danny questioned.

"Probably, but dinner's not for a few hours. You might as well get some rest now."

H50 H50

 _The case was supposed to be a simple snatch and grab. Danny sighed as he sank against a far wall, his gaze landing Kono and Chin. They were seated on the opposite wall, both equally as bound as he was. The ropes were cutting into the tender flesh of his wrists._

" _Sometimes I wish they'd actually use our handcuffs." He grumbled._

 _Chin looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Really?"_

 _Danny shrugged. "I'm going to have permanent scarring from all the abductions." He cast his gaze around the room and groaned. "When is Steve due back from his maneuvers?"_

 _Kono huffed. "Not till Sunday…and no one else knows where we are."_

" _Because we operate outside normal police procedures." Danny hissed in frustration. "I knew that was going to bite us in the ass one day. Honestly, though? I thought that Steve would be here to suffer those consequences too. Figures he'd be off playing Army."_

" _Navy." Chin and Kono said in unison._

 _Danny glared at his teammates. "Seriously? What is wrong with you two?" He groused. The Jersey cop shifted and then winced as his knee complained at the forced immobile position._

" _You okay?" Chin asked when he saw the visible evidence of Danny's discomfort._

" _Not really, no. But aside from aggravating my sensibilities, my knee isn't too happy at the moment." He hated that the old baseball injury popped up at odd moments and caused him weakness._

 _The scrape of a large door pulled all three sets of eyes over and Danny nearly groaned when two men entered. One carried a cattle prod and the other a length of rope; both of the men were masked…and big. Like really big. Now, where Danny was concerned, Kono seemed like a big person, but these guys would have dwarfed Steve and Kamekona combined._

" _Hey guys…can we talk about the accommodations? It's a little drafty in here and I think I may have seen a cockroach." Danny snarked as one of the men closed and locked the door behind them._

 _They looked at each other and then immediately moved toward Danny. Ten minutes later he was very sorry he'd opened his mouth. His big, New Jersey, smart-assed mouth had landed him in a heap of shit. They'd grabbed his arms, wrenching them up and lifting him until he was hanging from a meat hook fifteen inches above the ground. He was just out of sight of either Chin or Kono, but he knew that they would be able to hear everything. Danny knew from experience that that was worse than actually seeing what was happening._

 _The moment those sons a bitches applied the cattle prod; Danny had bit through his lip to keep from screaming. It was like having every nerve ending in his body firing at the exact same moment. His vision narrowed down to a black point and then widened back out again as pain sliced through his body in bursts of agony._

 _"Not even a question?" He asked through clenched teeth._

 _Their team was only seven months old at this point and none of them had spent much time together outside of work. Granted they would grab a beer or lunch, but there hadn't been a ton of time to 'hang out'. And now as Danny hung from the roof and tried like hell to think of anything but the fists that were currently pummeling his abdomen, he wondered if that would ever happen._

 _His thoughts turned to his missing partner and Danny felt a pang of regret so strong it actually surprised him. He and Steve had spent far more time together than they had with the cousins. It wasn't that any one person was more important than anyone else…but they were 'partners' and that meant something to Danny. He wished that Steve was back, at least then they'd have a chance of being rescued. As it was right now? There were three more days until their intrepid leader was due back and the Jersey detective wasn't sure they could last that long._

 _Danny's wandering thoughts were hauled back to the present when the silent attacker's fists were traded for the prod. He couldn't ignore the pain any longer and for the first time, Danny screamed. Until his throat was raw and his voice completely ragged from the pained cries._

 _H50 H50_

At first it sounded like it was echoing down a long hallway. The obnoxious ringing of a cellphone pulled Danny from his sleepy cocoon of warmth. A soft breeze kissed his warm skin and he wanted nothing more than to stay inside the pain free zone. He swallowed and rolled slowly to the side, grabbing blindly for the offensive little device. He didn't even look at the number before mumbling a tired 'hello'.

"Detective Williams?" The official sounding question had Danny forcing his eyes open and pulling the phone away from his ear long enough to make out that it was the hospital.

"This is Danny." He said as he sat up. He could hear Steve bustling around downstairs in the kitchen.

"This doctor Kua. I have some information for you. Can you come into the office in the next hour or so?"

Danny frowned and leaned over the edge of the bed as his head started to pound painfully. He was a little surprised by the tightness of the muscles in his neck and the pulsing ache of pain was extremely unpleasant. "Yeah…uh is it good or bad?"

The doctor sighed. "Well, we still don't know what's happening inside your body, but we have discovered some things that will help until we do know."

Danny pinched at the bridge of his nose and nodded. He immediately regretted the motion when his stomach flipped and he ground his teeth together to keep from vomiting all over Steve's floor. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

He swiped the 'end' button and then looked up. Steve was standing in the doorway of the room. "What's going on?" The military man's face was blank, but Danny could see the fear lurking just beneath the surface of his friend's gaze.

The smaller man forced himself upright and then leaned against the wall as he reached down for his shoes. "The doctor has an idea of something that might help."

Steve frowned and grabbed a pair of flip flops, he set them down in front of Danny. "Try these, less work. What did he find?"

"I don't know. He wants me to come back in." Danny's gaze flickered over to the alarm clock on the dresser. He was frustrated when the red numbers blurred together and he was unable to read them. Danny had 20/20 vision and not being able to easily see something that was less than six feet from him didn't do anything to make him feel better.

Steve nodded and grabbed a sweatshirt from the back of the chair near the large window. "Okay, let's go."

Danny wanted to argue, but he couldn't exactly drive himself. He didn't need a babysitter. He'd been taking care of himself for a long time before Steve had come into his life. Essentially, Danny's ego was taking some pretty hefty hits lately.

"I need to swing past the palace real quick to let Chin and Kono know what's up. Plus, they have a file I need. They can come out and start the grill up while we're at the doctors." Steve watched Danny move slowly toward the stairs, he ground his teeth together to keep from grabbing his partner's arm when Danny stumbled. But Steve stayed within arms reach, just in case Danny started to fall. "We can pick up Grace on our way back." He continued.

Danny stopped and turned to look at Steve. There were a lot of things he wanted to say, but at the top of his list was… "Thank you."

"For what?" Steve asked, genuinely perplexed by the gratitude shining out of his partner's eyes.

"Everything." Danny gulped. "Letting me stay here after the accident…and for…now." He knew he wasn't making a ton of sense, but Danny didn't care. He just wanted to make sure that Steve knew that he appreciated what his friend was doing for him.

Steve smiled. "Anytime, buddy."

H50 H50

Steve ran up the stairs into the palace, leaving his partner in the car. It was only going to take a moment and it took Danny more time than normal right now to navigate the staircases. A file had been delivered earlier that day and Chin had called Steve to let him know. The case file was a breakdown of the man they suspected might be involved in what had happened to Danny more than a year ago. His mind was racing around with possibility and a potential lead, so Steve wasn't as aware of his surroundings as he normally was.

There were a few people that could cause _distraction_ in Steve's life, his team…Catherine or Mary…and Danny.

H50 H50

Danny sat on the passenger side of the car, his blue gaze focused on the ornate gold and black of the palace.

He was so tired lately. His inability to control what was happening inside his head was a threat to his team…they never knew if he was going to zone out or drop into a convulsing mess. It had taken three days before the doctors had identified that adrenaline injections seemed to counteract the affects of the fluid collection. His own body could break it down quicker and it wasn't causing as many problems at it had been, but Danny wasn't anywhere near one hundred percent.

He knew that they still needed to find the bastards that had attacked him…with a goddamned envelope.

In the end it hadn't taken a gun to take out the Jersey detective…just Danny's innate personality traits that made him a fantastic detective. The sudden appearance of a man near the steps had Danny sitting up straighter. His gaze was drawn over to Steve as he exited the building, his eyes focused down on the folder in his hands. He didn't see the gun that the guy pulled something from beneath his jacket, but Danny did…

There were no arguments with himself about his condition. He didn't even consider the consequences before jumping out of the car, his knees buckling slightly as he leaned against the car for support. Danny pulled his pistol from the holster on his hip, some things don't change, and aimed at the man rapidly approaching Steve.

"Steve!" Danny managed to call, causing his head to explode in flashes of pain and he fired his weapon without another thought.

H50 H50

Steve's eyes widened when he saw his partner aiming a firearm at a man that was less than fifteen feet from him. The SEAL could see more clearly than Danny could and he knew that what the guy was holding wasn't a real gun, it was something else.

"Danny! Stop!" Steve called as he scrambled forward.

The man raised the silver object and Steve's heart sank when he heard the 'blam' of a pistol and Danny's arms shifted with the power of the weapon's discharge. Blood blossomed on the man's chest and he sank to his knees, before dropping forward onto his chest. The silver device slipped out of the man's hands, it was a small frame…a picture of little girl inside. Steve rushed forward and tried to staunch the flow of blood, but it was no use, Danny was an excellent shot. Even without a clear field of vision of what he was firing at…he'd managed to hit center mass.

Danny moved toward his partner and the man he'd just taken down. His eyes widened in shock, when he saw, not a gun…but a picture of a little girl, not much older than Grace. It was lying in a growing puddle of bright red blood. "Oh God…" Danny breathed as his knees gave way and he sank down onto the concrete steps as people raced in from all directions.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _You guys wanted another chapter this weekend. Well here ya go. It's only going to get crazier from here. Thank you to everyone that took the time to drop a review and to those that are reading this little trilogy. You guys are awesome._

 **Please Review: My shameless request…**


	4. Sins of the Past

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

Also, please keep in mind that I don't use a beta, so all mistakes are mine and I apologize ahead of time for them.

 **Chapter Four** **:**

 _Sins of the Past_

Danny stared at the wall of his cell. It wasn't the first time he'd been incarcerated, but it was the first time that he felt like he deserved it. The HPD officers had been fairly pleasant. They'd brought him some coffee and even a couple magazines to read. But Danny couldn't focus on the words. He was feeling more and more sick. He'd managed to drink the coffee, but then he'd spent the next twenty minutes clearing it out of his system when his stomach rebelled.

 _At least they clean the toilets here._ He'd thought as he wiped his mouth and sank back on his heels.

Being inside a cell is weird. Danny's eyes bounced around and he furrowed his eyebrows at what he saw. The walls were newly painted, he could smell the paint and it added something strange to the experience. There divots in the walls where past _tenants_ had carved their names or other symbols into the plaster. The bed was hard. A thin mattress lay over a steel frame with two blankets and two flat sheets. The floor was cold grey concrete and it had been coated with some sort of sealant that prevented chipping.

His eyes flickered up to the small window above the stainless steel sink. It had a thick bulletproof plexi-glass that allowed the sunlight in, but wouldn't allow an inmate to escape. It was a study in the harsh realities of breaking the laws set forth by man.

Danny's thoughts turned to Grace and he inwardly cringed. What would she think? Would she think that he was a murderer? That he was a bad guy? That thought was too painful to entertain so he tossed it aside and shifted his weight on the bed. The blue of his khaki pants caught his attention for a moment and he stared. He'd only been inside the retention center for five hours, but he already found himself trying to figure out he was going to be okay with spending years in here.

"Oh Gracie…I'm so sorry." He muttered.

"Williams. Time for your doctors trip." One of the guards, a huge man that resembled a mack truck stepped up in front of Danny's cell. "You know the drill." He said.

Danny stood and shuffled over to the bars, turning his back so the man could place the handcuffs around his wrists. They were cold and pulled painfully at his sore muscles. The shorter man found himself swallowing as his claustrophobia reared its ugly head at the feeling of being so confined. Sometimes it wasn't just small spaces, but the feeling of being restricted that could set it off.

"McGarrett said to tell you not to worry. The teams going to get you cleared."

Danny turned and looked at the guy in surprise. Generally, cops aren't all that nice to one of their own when they get arrested from breaking the law they're sworn to protect. "How do you know, Steve?" He asked as the steel bars slid out of the way and the door opened.

"I don't. But I grew up with Kono." He said as he gently grabbed Danny's arm. Another man stepped up on the other side and helped the escort Danny to the waiting transport van.

 _H50 H50_

The whole situation was grating on Steve's conscience the more he considered what had happened in front of the palace that morning. There was something very wrong with this entire situation. It was too neat. Too clean. And that never gave Steve the 'warm and fuzzies', as Grace called the feelings. He pressed his lips together in frustration as he ground his teeth together.

Danny sure as hell didn't deserve to be feeling any guilt over what he'd done. But the initial arrest hadn't happened because of Five-0. In fact, they'd tried to keep HPD from hauling Danny in. It had all been done as professionally as possible, but it had still happened…and that pissed Steve off to no end. He hadn't been able to _protect_ his team member and losing someone under his command was worst thing that could happen.

At least for the first part of this unfortunate situation and then they'd realized that there was something going on outside of just arresting Danny for murder. The strings were being pulled from a much higher source. It was self-defense…he was pretty sure. Or at least a justified shooting. The problem was, they didn't have the proof that they needed to get Danny out.

The sun was streaming through the windows in his office and displaying patterns on his floor. Steve's eyes dropped and he groaned when he saw that they were bars. There weren't any bars on his windows, but the way the sun was catching the dividers between windowpanes, it looked like fucking bars. Which was exactly what Danny was currently seeing.

Kono stepped through the open door, her own eyes guarded as she sank into the couch near the door. Her body slumped forward and she leaned her elbows on her knees. The whole team was suffering right now, not just Steve and he could see the pressure of the situation reflected in her body language.

"Anything?" He asked hopefully.

Kono shook her head.

Steve threw his hands in the air in frustration as he stared wide-eyed at Kono. "So there's nothing?" He couldn't believe that it had been so easy to trick them. Danny hadn't been one hundred percent, but he'd been coherent enough to hit his mark. It killed Steve that he'd thought, even for a second, that the man hadn't been _planted_ there. Whatever was happening to Danny? It was all part of some sort of sick, twisted game and no one had bothered to give Five-0 the rules.

She sighed. "Not yet, boss." Kono grabbed the files she'd brought in with her and began flipping through them, searching for something that only she knew about.

Kono looked up as Chin walked into the office. Chin looked just as frustrated as Steve and Kono. He was wearing his 'we're going to fix this' face. "Have we figured out what happened with Kenneth Browder?"

"We know that he didn't have any children and that he has a history of unstable and violent responses to law enforcement." Kono said as she found the information in the file.

"Then why was he carrying that picture of a child?" Chin started to ask and then sucked in a breath as the answer came to him. "Damn-it, because only Danny would be affected just by _thinking_ that he'd killed some kid's father." One thing about their Jersey detective, he was vulnerable where kids were concerned, more so than any of the rest of them. Even Lou wasn't as affected by the cases that involved children.

"We need to find a connection between why Ken Browder was at the Palace today and Danny. Something isn't adding up here." Steve said.

They were interrupted by Lou as he leaned against the doorframe. "And I think I know what it is."

Steve's gaze flew up. "Care to elaborate?"

Grover tilted his head. "The man was a junky. He'd been on the streets for about two years."

"I didn't' find any records of him." Kono said quickly.

"Because he's not from Hawaii. He's from New Jersey."

The entire team sat up and stared in shock. "He's from Jersey? Did he know Danny or something?"

Lou shook his head. "Not that I was able to find. Apparently, he was flown into Honolulu two days ago, first class mind you, and the next time he shows up is on the steps of this building seven hours ago."

"So this is a set up?"

Grover nodded. "It's sure starting to look that way."

"But why? What's the end game here?" Chin asked. He crossed his arms and leaned against the edge of Steve's desk. The wheels inside his head were turning a mile a minute as he started piecing together information.

Steve frowned. He wasn't happy with the way any of this was going. He was concerned about what this whole situation was doing to Danny as he waited for exoneration. There was proof out there somewhere that would clear Danny of any wrong doing in this situation, they just had to find it.

"I'm going to go talk with Danny." Steve looked at his team members before staring to exit. "Get a hold of Jerry and Kamekona, anyone that help clear this matter up. This is our top priority guys. Find the son of a bitch that thinks he can set up a member of our team."

And with that declaration, Steve was out the door. Chin, Kono, and Lou watched as their intrepid leader disappeared down the stairs. They each looked at one another in turn before heading to their own offices to run down the only lead they had. The fact that this guy was from the mainland and Jersey to boot? It couldn't be a coincidence.

H50 H50

The HPD officers assigned to Danny's case had escorted him to the hospital for another adrenaline shot. Steve spent most of the drive on the phone with the Governor. He needed to get the man to let Danny out of that holding cell.

Steve had finally convinced the Governor to step in and let Five-0 keep an eye on the Jersey cop until they could clear him. Even the governor knew that Danny was innocent, but he had to have the proof to let a member of his _team_ get away with murder.

The drive to the hospital was quicker than usual or else Steve paying less attention than he normally did. As he pulled into the parking stricter, the SEAL found that he was more anxious to get to Danny than he had been when he'd left. Something just wasn't sitting well for him and he couldn't put his finger on it.

Danny was sitting in a private waiting area; the two officers had given him the privacy and waited outside. They immediately nodded when they saw the commander of the task force and Steve waived them off.

He pushed through the door and sighed when he saw Danny sitting quietly on the table. "Anything new?"

 _H50 H50_

 _The first time that Steve had been 'played' by a bad guy it had been a surprise. But ever since that week in Algeria, he'd been far less trusting of what he saw with his own eyes. The first time that he'd set foot on foreign soil was something that he would remember for the rest of his life, but it had been the only time he'd had his guard down._

 _He'd been pleasantly surprised when he'd met Danny Williams and the detective had turned out to be 'exactly' what he seemed to be. Not simple. Because nothing about Danny was simple, but he'd been fairly transparent. It's not that his friend was necessarily open about certain aspects of his life, but would eventually let Steve in and explain the more painful moments. The one thing that Danny never attempted to hide was his intense loyalty to those he considered 'family'. It had been that quality that had drawn Steve to him, because he was able recognize some of himself in the snarky Jersey cop._

 _The fact that Danny could actually open up was something that Steve admired. Mostly because it was something that he himself couldn't do. He wanted to share everything with Danny, but his past was better off staying in the past._

 _The problem had reared its ugly head when they'd started learning about one another. Now, five years later, Steve knew more about Danny than he'd ever known about anyone. The closest friendship he'd had that resembled it had been with Freddie. But both Steve and Danny had things in their pasts that they didn't want to talk about. One of Steve's things had been this first mission. Granted it was actually still categorized as 'classified', but still…_

 _He'd been the junior man on the team and eager to prove himself to the other members. That had been what had gotten him into trouble, it had been a situation not that far off from what had just happened to Danny. Steve had been shot while taking trying to protect what he thought was a witness. It turned out to be the mastermind behind the trafficking ring they'd been breaking up. One of the members of his unit had died that day, while he'd been protecting a sick bastard._

 _Steve had saved the son of a bitch's life and in the process one of the members of his own team had paid the price. It hadn't been until a year later, but the man had tracked their team down, bringing new evidence to light. All that time Steve had thought that he had done the right thing, but that knowledge had been ripped away from him and the guilt had eaten away at him._

 _He'd replayed every decision he'd made on that particular team outing and nearly driven himself crazy trying to figure out what had happened. But Steve had also learned a few things; he'd learned that you don't abandon a teammate…not for anything. And with Danny it was even more imperative. Because this wasn't just a 'buddy', this was 'Danny'._

 _H50 H50_

Danny knew that there was something going on with his friend. Steve was wearing his aneurism face times ten. It almost hurt more knowing what this whole situation was doing to his team. Okay sure, Danny wasn't exactly happy with the present turn of events, but he was more worried about what was happening with to friends as a result of it. "Steven, you're brooding." He finally said when Steve remained quiet.

"Probably." Steve answered as he sank onto the hard plastic chair near the curtains.

Danny's eyebrows rose and he gestured with both hands. "Well, would you like to share with the class? I mean since I am the one that's currently being held for murder."

"You didn't murder that guy." Steve answered without thinking. When Danny didn't immediately answer him, he looked up. His friends blue gaze was fixed on him in surprise.

"I shot him, Steve—"

"—I was there, remember? Danny, I saw what happened. You thought that the man had a gun and you took action. There's nothing wrong with that."

Danny wiped his hand down his face. "I know what I thought I saw, Steve. But I can't trust my eyes right now."

"What the hell does that mean?"

The shorter man leaned back. His entire body exhibiting exhaustion and there was a slight shake to his normally steady hands. "I've been a cop for a long time, Steve—"

"I know that."

"And I've never questioned my ability to do this job. But lately…I don't know…I think I should take a step back until the doctors can clear up my _condition_." Danny looked anywhere but at Steve as he explained. "I can't trust my instincts right now, Steve. And I've never been in that position as a cop."

Steve frowned. He knew that his friend was opening up and how difficult it must be for him to say these things. But he also knew that he couldn't allow Danny to question his skills or his god given intuition. Cops don't recover from things like that.

"Danny, stop. The guy was from Jersey. We don't know why he was in Hawaii or why he targeted you. But we do know that there is way more to this story than what we've uncovered so far. So…just stop. I'm not standing you down and I'm not buying into the 'whole questioning your skills thing', so you can stop with that kind of talk."

Danny was looking at the floor.

"Danny? Are you listening?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, Steven. I'm listening." Danny answered as he brought his blue gaze up and sighed.

"And…?"

"And what?"

Steve narrowed his eyes. Danny was being obstinate on purpose now. "Do you remember when I was accused of killing the Governor?"

"I'm sick, I don't have brain damage…yes I remember that." He shot back with a hint of his old irritation.

"And do you remember when you thought I was guilty of that crime?" Steve watched as Danny's face scrunched up in denial.

"I never thought you were guilty. The moment you told me that you hadn't committed that murder, I knew." Danny answered easily.

Steve smiled. "That goes both ways, buddy. I know you shot that man, but I also know that you wouldn't have done that without reason. So I don't think you're guilty here. And you need to remember that."

Danny pulled his lip between his teeth as he took that in. "I'll do my best."

"Well, to be fair…you have forgotten certain things lately." Steve tried to infuse some humor into the situation.

"Just that one thing. Not _certain things_. I do not have selective memory loss, Steve."

Steve couldn't help but smile when Danny rose to the bait. "Uh-huh."

"Don't uh-huh me. You did that on purpose." Danny accused. He knew that his friend was trying to get him to think about something other than his present situation. And it happened to be working.

"Guilty as charged. What do you say we get out of here." Steve jumped to his feet and started toward the door.

Danny bit at his lower lip. "Um, I'm thinking that my HPD escorts won't like me stepping out on them."

Steve didn't even turn around. "About that, I talked with the Governor and he's allowing you to be placed in my custody until we can clear this up."

A warm feeling flooded Danny and he couldn't help the slight smile. He ignored the nausea that was currently trying to overshadow the good news. "In your custody? You can't keep a person in _custody_ , it's illegal."

"Just…stop, Danno. Let's go. Kono and Chin are waiting and we've got a case to solve."

Danny slipped carefully to the floor. His legs wobbled a bit, but held. He nodded at the officers as they exited the room. He wasn't sure where this whole thing was going to end and he didn't know if they'd track down the man that had poisoned him. But he was more than willing to put his life in the hands of his team.

H50 H50

It was all coming together better than he could have imagined. Detective Williams was unraveling and he was taking Five-0 down with him. Their focus was on trying to prove that he hadn't knowingly discharged his firearm, killing an innocent man. And on trying to isolate the substance still wreaking havoc inside the Jersey cop. Which meant that they weren't focused on the pier and what was being delivered. And he was given the opportunity to solidify relationships with the main land by going after the New Jersey detective.

Hawaii was going to pay for 'his' loss. Five-0 would lose one of their own and he would finally be avenged.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _So this chapter was hard to write for some reason. I know where the story is going, but this chapter was more of a 'glue' between the opening and the shift into the case. Hopefully you guys can forgive my writer's block a bit on this._

 **Please Review: They keep me motivated to write even when writer's block rears it's ugly head.**


	5. Coincidence or a Warning

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Five :**

 _Coincidence or a Warning_

 _It was the moment that every parent fears with a passion that can't be described in words. That moment when someone takes something from you that can't be replaced…a child._

 _Danny Williams was staring at the report in horror. He'd been called off another case and sent to what had originally appeared to be a kidnapping. But the moment he'd slowed the Ford Taurus to a halt and climbed from the car, he'd known that this wasn't a simple kidnapping…if any case involving a child could be called 'simple'._

 _His partner, Angela had arrived ahead of him, because Danny had been at an appointment for Rachel and their unborn child. In his heart, Danny was ecstatic about the news, but his thick Irish-Catholic head was terrified. What if he wasn't a good father? What if the baby suffocated to death because he'd wrapped it too tight in the fluffy blue or pink blanket? Danny knew that parents raised children all the time and they managed just fine. This time it was different…this time it was 'his' child._

 _Danny had learned about his wife's pregnancy two months ago, right after the horrible events of September 11_ _th_ _, 2001. That was a day that would live in his memory for reasons far beyond the attack on the twin towers. And now they were dealing with a serial killer, one that was targeting young girls._

 _Cases involving children had always affected Detective Danny in a profound way. It didn't matter how many he solved, because there were still despicable people that targeted kids out there…hurting children. The killer had already attacked three little girls and a fourth was now missing._

 _He leaned against the railing of the platform he was now standing on. Danny's temporary partner had gone to ask for some information, leaving him to watch the subway trains as they passed. The one clue they had was that the little girls had all disappeared from the same block and that this was the only place there wasn't a camera angle. Which meant that this was a possible escape route for the killer. They hadn't released the details to the media yet, but as soon as they did? Danny had no doubt that they would dub this freak 'the subway killer' or some equally lame moniker._

' _And wouldn't the son of a bitch love that.' He thought in irritation._

 _Angela Ramirez waved to him as she exited the booth. She was a newly minted detective and eager to prove her worth. Danny thought she was pretty good and would eventually be an excellent homicide detective. If she could stick with it long enough. A lot of people thought they wanted this job. It only took one really 'hard' case for the cop in question to pick something like narcotics or vice. Homicide was an elite unit, but it was also a soul crushing exercise that left the detectives involved little choice but to bottle up their feelings as they worked the cases. It destroyed marriages and careers. And on occasion ended in a stint of rehab for alcohol or in a therapist's office talking about the things that no homicide detective wants to talk about…the job._

" _You get anything useful?" He asked as they walked up the steps. The smell from the dark and yellowed corners made Danny want to breathe as little as possible. His right loafer stuck to some gum and he groaned when he had to pull it free with a light 'pop'._

 _Angela shook her head. "Not enough to get us anywhere."_

 _Danny tossed her a questioning look. "The lady said something about a man in a grey hoodie that used to hang out here. She hasn't seen him in weeks." They approached the car and Angela immediately went to the driver's side._

 _The blonde detective rolled his eyes and crawled into the passenger seat. The vague answer irritated the hotheaded cop and he lashed out. "And what…now he's not around? What'd he do, up and move to another urine stained corner?"_

" _That's what she thinks." Angela's dark eyes scanned the horizon and she turned on the car._

 _Danny sighed and ran his hand over his face. He pulled his lower lip between his teeth shook his head._

 _Angela looked over at him. "You don't believe her?"_

 _The blonde tilted his head to the side, his blue gaze drifting along the sidewalk. He saw everything, the small gum wrapper in the gutter, the man debating on grabbing his umbrella from his bag, and the woman checking her cell phone for a call she wished would come in. "It's not that." He answered. "This whole case makes me sick inside."_

" _Anything involving kids makes me sick." She retorted as she pulled onto the highway, the traffic was unusually heavy and that meant that they were going to get stuck on the turnpike at rush hour. "So how do you want to handle this?"_

 _Danny slipped his fingers through his hair and his eyebrows drew together as he thought. "You have the name of the toll booth lady, right?"_

" _I do."_

" _Let's run some background on her." He said._

 _Angela raised a dark elegant eyebrow. "On what grounds?"_

" _On the grounds of another missing little girl and the subway is our only lead. Let's chase it down." Danny hated puzzles. He hated them on principle alone. A puzzle, by its very nature demanded to be solved and the idea of not knowing the answer had actually kept Danny up as a kid. It was his intense dislike of unsolved mysteries that had led him into law enforcement. And that same dislike had landed him one of the top homicide closure rates in the Newark PD's homicide unit._

 _H50 H50_

 _Danny stared at the bright red front door of his and Rachel's house. The large window of their living room was dark. Which meant that his wife was either still working or she'd headed out with some friends when he'd been late getting home. He started up the steps and almost got his key into the lock when his phone blared loudly from his pocket._

" _Detective Williams." He answered absently as he shoved the little silver key into the burnished gold lock._

" _Danny…" Angela's voice was thin and high. He could hear the 'stress' over the phone._

 _He stopped and stepped away from the door. The reception inside the little house wasn't all that great and he was pretty sure he didn't want this call to get disconnected. "What's happened, Ang?"_

 _A shuddered breath echoed through the line and chilled Danny to the bone. "We found her."_

 _Danny's fingers froze and his head dropped forward onto his chest in defeat. They'd lost another one. "Where?" He asked softly as he relocked the door and headed back to his car._

" _The booth—"_

 _He stumbled to a halt. "—In the subway?"_

" _Danny, Elivia Reynolds was posed with the body of the subway toll booth worker, Kelly Chu."_

" _She's dead too?" Danny asked as he rushed toward the car. "There's never been an adult victim. Most killers don't change their MO."_

" _Come see for yourself. Every thing is the same. Except for the second body. They both look like they're laid out for a funeral, a rosary wrapped around their two wrists." Angela's composure broke on that and she sucked in a hitched breath. "We gotta find this sick son of a bitch, Danny."_

" _We will." He answered quickly._

 _Except they hadn't. This was the one case that had gotten away from the detective and the one that haunted his nightmares. Three more girls had been killed and then the murders had just stopped. Neither rhyme nor reason to it and it haunted Detective Danny Williams._

 _H50 H50_

Danny surged up in bed, his sheets were soaked through with cold sweat and his hands shaking as he reached up and wiped at his eyes. He wasn't sure if it was tears or his body's response to the intense dream that had just robbed him of his much needed nights sleep. The bloody images of the little girl that had worn Grace's face still fresh in his mind's eye. His entire body was shaking from the adrenaline dump caused by the realistic nightmare he'd surged out of.

The croaking of the coqui frogs and the gentle lap of the waves drifted through the open window. He looked over at the fluttering of the white gossamer curtains that covered the edges of the large window. The moon was high in the night sky, which told Danny that he hadn't slept very long. That was becoming a very nasty habit lately and the dark almost bruise-like bags under his eyes was getting harder to hide from Steve.

He sucked in a long slow breath and twisted, dropping his feet over the edge of the bed. Danny's eyes dropped to the floor and he leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs. Halloween had come and gone and Thanksgiving was rapidly approaching. Normally this was Danny's favorite time of year. But lately? He wasn't feeling all that festive.

Danny sucked in a slow breath and shoved himself to his feet. The air inside the house was slightly chilly and his skin prickled in response. The moonlight was slipping through the open windows and he slowly made his way down the hallway and into the kitchen. He leaned against the counter before pulling open the fridge and grabbing a beer. The 'swoosh' of the sliding door was louder than he would have thought it could be as Danny slipped out into the night and padded across the grass toward the lapping waves of the ocean.

The water was rolling inland in gentle waves; the sound of the ocean washing over the sandy beach was pleasant as Danny sank down onto a wooden chair. He leaned forward and lifted the bottle to his lips. This whole thing wasn't sitting well with him. He swallowed and then leaned back. More than the dream, it was the unsolved mystery of the man that had been sent from Jersey and the connection to a picture of the little girl.

"Solving the problem of world peace out here?" Steve asked as he sat down in the other chair.

Danny didn't even look over his shoulder as he shook his head. "Just thinking."

"Well, that's never a good thing." Steve tried to joke. He wasn't feeling it any more than Danny was and when his friend didn't even crack a smile he stopped trying. He sighed and leaned back. "What's got you up in the middle of the night?"

The blonde snorted and he shook his head before he looked over at Steve out of the corner of his eye. "What do you think?" The sarcasm was nearly dripping off the words.

"What do I think?" Steve repeated. "I think that you're trying to make sense out of this whole thing. Just like the rest of us are."

Danny leaned forward and turned so he could see Steve in the low light of the moon. "So have you? Made any sense of it?" His unusually still hands tipped open in a gesture of 'question'. "Cuz I sure as hell ain't."

Steve blew out a long slow breath. "No. So far we have only connected circumstantial dots. Chin thinks that there is a connection here, but we haven't been able to narrow it down. We know the guy was from New Jersey—"

"Yeah, and I have no clue who he was—"

"—I know that, Danny. I'm not questioning your statement or even the shooting of the man. What I am questioning, is why you? What is it about you that's got our friend out there so worried?" Steve was talking through his thoughts as they occurred to him.

Danny scoffed. "Worried? I don't think he's worried, Steve. I'm pretty sure that the son of a bitch has me exactly where he wants me." He licked his lips and pushed to his feet. "All this stuff is in the papers, Steven. I'm worried about what it's doing to Grace…and Five-0." His voice softened, almost to a whisper.

"Five-0? Danny, this isn't doing anything to us other than making us angry." Steve wasn't sure where this was going; his friend was a sensitive guy that allowed his feelings to overrule his better judgment...on occasion. "And Gracie knows that you were set up."

"But we still don't know who the little boy in the photo was!" Danny spat out as his anger overwhelmed him.

"No, we don't. And that's why I need you, partner. We need to track this kid down and find out if there is more to this story than just a man from Jersey."

"You mean a _different_ man from Jersey, right?" Danny responded in a low voice.

Steve pressed his lips together in frustration. He loved Danny like a brother, but some times he wondered how the hell the detective got anything done with his unyielding and negative view of the world. "Danny…"

Danny laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "Ya know, the last year has been…" His voice trailed off, he stood, and moved toward the rolling waves of the ocean. His shoulders were slightly slumped and he looked as though the weight of world was sitting on them.

"Rough." Steve provided.

"That's putting it one way." Danny retorted sarcastically.

"We're going to figure this whole thing out, Danny. I promise you that."

Steve stood and stepped up next to his friend. The sun was just starting to throw golden rays of light on the horizon over the ocean. He gently placed his arm on Danny's shoulder.

There was a shiver to the shorter man's muscles that had nothing to do with the chilly morning. "What happens if we don't?" Danny asked quietly.

"Wasn't it you that once told me that I shouldn't be so pessimistic?" Steve asked as he stepped around to look directly into his friend's stormy blue eyes.

Danny looked down at his feet and shrugged his shoulders. "I think you're twisting my words…but yeah…I might've said something along those lines."

"Don't lose faith in us now, Danno."

"Not gonna lie here, Steven…my faith's been a bit shaky lately." Danny sighed and looked over at the rays of light making their way over the glassy ocean surface. "The last year has tested me in ways I never asked for."

"No one asks to be kidnapped and thrown into a—"

"—a pit." Danny responded without thinking. It happened in a flash of memories. Suddenly he was inside the lava tube, the world was nothing but shadows and pain. Fear worked its way along his spine and planted itself painfully inside his head. Slices of electricity bumped along his nerves and his knees buckled sending him to the sandy ground.

"Danny?" Steve called worriedly. He watched as Danny's eyes unfocused and his back straightened like a spike had been shoved into him. "Danny?! What's happening?"

A groan slipped past the Jersey native's lips as his hands pressed against his temples, the forgotten beer spilling its golden contents into the sand. Phantom pain licked along his body as he leaned forward pressing his elbows into his thighs. Image after image forced its way into his brain. "Oh god…" The world started to pin point and spiral in on him. His claustrophobia reared its head in a massive way. It felt like his lungs were being squeezed in vice and suddenly he couldn't breathe.

"Danny, come on man…what the hell is happening?" Steve dropped down next to the shorter man. When he grabbed Danny's shoulders he could feel the shivers running through the other man's body. "Calm down, Danny. It's going to be okay." Steve pulled his cell phone out and dialed. "Yeah, this is Steve McGarrett with Five-0, I need an ambulance at this location. My partner's having some kind of seizure."

XXXX

Chin jogged back into his driveway after getting in an early morning run. He pulled his key from his pocket, but his door was slightly open. His distrustful nature kicked in and he pulled his sidearm from the ankle holster before slowly pushing through the open door.

"Put it away cuz." Kono said as she came around the corner with two mugs of coffee. "I'm not here to rob you." She set down one of the mugs. "I already raided your coffee pot. And it's very good coffee."

"You're out early." He said as he grabbed the unclaimed cup and took a sip. "And you're right, I do have great coffee."

She leaned against the counter. "Heard from Danny lately?"

Chin looked at her in confusion. "Not since HPD released him into Steve's custody. No. Have you?"

She shook her head. "No."

"And that has you worried?" He asked as he sipped.

Kono's eyebrows drew together in frustration. "Not really. Just aware that we're down a man."

Before he could answer, Chin's cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and held it up for Kono to see. She smiled and titled her head to the side. "Well, don't keep the boss waiting."

"Steve. What's up?" Chin asked, he'd placed his phone on speaker so Kono could hear what was going on. It was easier than continually having one conversation and then a second one when he had to fill her in on the details.

"I'm headed to the hospital." Steve's stressed words stopped them both cold.

Chin's brown gaze lifted to meet Kono's now worried eyes. "What? Why?"

"Danny." Steve answered without a pause.

"We're on our way." He hung up and looked over at his cousin. "We gotta go."

She nodded. "You should shower first. Chances are we aren't getting out of there any time soon."

Chin stopped and looked at his cousin, worry creasing his forehead. "That bad?"

She shrugged. "Well it isn't good."

"Five minutes." He said as he rushed toward the bedroom and his shower.

XXXX

Grace rushed through the halls of the hospital. She was freaking out…at least on the inside. On the outside she was trying her best to be calm. She was terrified to be back in the hospital for her father. He'd had an extremely rough year. And every time she raced through these halls searching for him, it scared her a little more. One of these days she was terrified that she'd either be too late or he wouldn't make here in time.

"Uncle Steve!" She cried as she rounded the final corner. Her mother was hot on her heels, Charlie tagging along beside her Rachel.

Steve turned to see the little girl running toward him. He caught her in a hug. "Where's Danno? Is he okay?" She asked. There was a slight tremor to her voice and her brown eyes were wide with barely suppressed fear.

"He's with the doctor right now. But he's going to be okay, Grace. He was talking when I left him."

She looked over at her mother, who was listening just as carefully as her daughter. "But what happened?"

Steve sighed. "We're not sure yet. But as soon as I know, I'll tell you."

"You promise?" Grace whispered so Rachel wouldn't hear.

Steve's gaze lifted to Rachel and Charlie and he leaned down answering softly. "I promise."

They walked around the corner of the assigned room and stopped when a nurse finished injecting something into Danny's IV. She turned and offered a small smile for the charming little girl wearing a very adult frown and a worried expression. "He's okay, sweetie. It's just to help him sleep."

Danny's slate blue gaze slipped over and he smiled. "Monkey." He held out his arms and she moved into the embrace easily. He lifted her up so she was sitting on the bed next to him and then nodded at Rachel.

"Danno, are you okay?" Grace laid her head against his chest and Danny hugged her close. He raised tired eyes to Steve and allowed a rare glimpse into his inner thoughts and feelings when he didn't try to hide them from his friend.

"Yeah, monkey. I'm good." He pulled her close and then did his best to ignore the pull of sleep.

Kono stepped into the room from the hallway, followed closely by Chin. "Grace, you wanna go get something from the cafeteria before they close?"

The Jersey detective lifted his grateful eyes as his daughter nodded and then quickly hugged him before following Kono from the room. Rachel took the hint and after squeezing Danny's shoulder she and Charlie followed Grace.

Chin stepped into the room and his gaze shifted between Danny and Steve. "Everything okay?"

Steve shrugged. "If you ask him it is."

Danny rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Steven."

"Says the guy that collapsed in the sand."

"I didn't _collapse_. I knelt down." He corrected.

"Then that was the most uncoordinated 'kneel' that I've ever seen." The SEAL shook his head and walked toward the window. "No. Something happened out there, Danny. What was it?"

The smaller man took a breath before answering. "I just…I got my memories back, that's all."

Steve and Chin looked at each other before turning to look fully at Danny. "That's all?! After a year, they just showed up?"

"Hey, I didn't ask to get assaulted with this." He mumbled.

Chin straightened at Danny's choice of words and moved so he was standing closer to the bed. "What do you remember?"

The onslaught of fear that piled into Danny's head and pulled sharply at his chest was not wholly unexpected, but it was more than he could deal with at that moment. And he shifted uncomfortably in the bed. The room seemed to press in on him and Danny couldn't take a full breath. "I can't…" He said softly. The pleading edge to his voice was not normal and it worried his team.

"You can't what?" Steve asked gently as he turned to look at his partner, the support and concern written in his blue-green eyes.

Danny started to speak and then shook his head. He couldn't seem to find his voice. "Steve…"

The taller man knew what Danny was struggling to say. "It's okay, Danny. We can talk about it later. Why don't you get some rest." He started toward the door and carefully motioned Chin to follow. "We'll keep an eye out for Grace and you."

Danny managed a slight nod. He needed time to sift through the memories and figure out what was there that was real and what was part of his phobia.

XXXX

The man dragged along the sideway, his leg hanging at an odd angle and his arm held tightly against his body. The seeping wounds on his face would have scared a CDC worker, but the moment he stepped into the hospital he knew it would all be over. He only had another quarter mile to go and then it would be over. He could let go and pass this burden onto the Five-0 task force. The tiny picture of a little boy was held clenched between his bony fingers.

Blood had streaked along the edges and dried into what might be a name, but he couldn't be sure. The words of the man that had infected him kept playing over and over in stereo inside his head.

"Deliver this message to Detective Daniel Williams, Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett, Lt. Chin Ho Kelly, and Officer Kono Kalakaua. If you fail to keep your end of this deal, Agent Mackey…Well, I don't have to tell you what happens to me that disappoint my father do I." The slight accent had been at complete odds with the physical appearance of the man…Asian.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Thank you so much to those that read and reviewed the last chapter, you guys are awesome! Apologies for not getting this up sooner, but I've started new projects at work and they are taking more time than I thought they would. But I digress…here's the next chapter…Enjoy!_

 **PLEASE REVIEW: Please, it will only take a minute and it makes writing easier.**


	6. Biohazard

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Six**

 _Biohazard_

Danny moved slowly to the attached bathroom. His muscles were tight and painful. Truthfully, the last time he'd felt this bad had been a terrible case of flu before he'd moved to Hawaii. There was a small patch of skin on his neck that itched something terrible and he couldn't stop himself from scratching at it. A sigh slipped past his lips and he shook his head before running his hand through his blonde hair. He was struggling with the memories that pushed their way back into his head. It was like his brain was too full. He couldn't seem to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time and he constantly felt like he was drowning or that Steve was drowning. His nerves were shot at this point.

He must have fallen asleep sometime earlier because the sun had now set and he was alone in his sterile hospital room. Danny knew better than to think that one of his teammates, probably Steve, wasn't somewhere in the hospital.

He leaned against the small white sink and ran the water over his hands before splashing it on his face. The detective frowned when he saw a similar abrasion on the top of his hand. He was fairly certain it hadn't been there earlier.

"Danny?" Steve's voice drifted through the door. "You okay?"

"Yes, Steven. I can still go to the bathroom alone." He heard the huff of air as his friend stepped away from the door and Danny immediately regretted the snapped response. He turned the light out before slipping out of the bathroom and back toward his bed in the low light of the room. He was moving slowly and he knew it, but he was hoping that Steve wouldn't notice.

"You okay?" Steve asked without a pause and Danny sighed.

"As good as I'm going to be under the circumstances."

The pitter-patter of the running steps caught both of their attention, and two sets of blue eyes stared out the open door. Several nurses ran past and Danny shifted his gaze to Steve. "What's happening out there?"

The dark haired Navy man shook his head. "I'm not sure." He was on his feet before he even finished the sentence. "But I'm going to find out." And with that he disappeared out the door.

Whatever the disturbance was it seemed to have the attention of the entire hospital. Danny leaned back against the pillow and ignored the ghosts of pain sprinting around his body. It was tribute to how crappy he was feeling when even a 'puzzle' couldn't get his attention. A slight _shuffling_ sound made him look over at the door again. A man that Danny didn't know stepped to the door and leaned into the room. It was darker in the room than in the hall, but not so dark that Danny couldn't make out the open sores on the man's face or the awkward limp to his gate. If he didn't know better, Danny would have assumed that this guy was the reason for the crazy response of all the medical personnel. Yet here he stood, so it must be something else.

Because if that had been the case, there was zero chance that Steve would've allowed this guy anywhere near Danny's room. "What do you want?" He asked quietly when the man stopped and stared at him.

The guy coughed and leaned heavily against the doorframe. His shoulders were sagging with weariness and his eyes were hooded.

"What the hell do you want?!" Danny demanded again when the man remained silent. The hairs on the back of Danny's neck stood up in warning. The man looked terrible, so it stood to reason that he probably wasn't here to wish Danny well.

He smiled and Danny winced when he saw the blood leak out between his teeth. "I did it….she's safe now." He stated.

The detective side of Danny's brain didn't like the way this was playing out. It was looking more and more like this guy was suffering from some sort of disease and those open wounds looked a little too familiar for the Jersey man's liking. "Did what? Who's safe?" He was reminded of the man on the floor of that house four years ago, the one that had managed to infect Danny days after he'd died.

The man stumbled forward, he coughed into his hands and green mucus sprayed across them, blood dripped from his chin. He managed a few more steps toward the increasingly worried detective, he tried to move away, but no dice. Another bout of wet hacking coughs and Danny was wiping what felt like spit from his face. Disgust rolled through him as he struggled to get away from the man. The tightness in his muscles and the lack of control over his own body held the blonde at bay.

The man's knees buckled and he slipped to the floor. "I did it…I killed you." He whispered before coughing and wheezing in a final bout with whatever was attacking his body. A bout the man lost moments later. The air caught inside his chest and then finally died altogether as Danny watched in stunned shock.

 _Did he say that he 'killed' me?_ Danny wondered as he stared in silence.

Maybe it was only a moment, maybe it was an hour, he didn't know, but the next thing he knew a nurse dressed in a biohazard suit sank down next to the man. She lifted sympathetic eyes to Danny when she realized where the sick man had actually died. "Did he touch you?" She asked softly.

"What?" Danny choked out. "No….but he hacked all over the room."

She nodded sympathetically. "We're going to get his body out of here and you'll need to remain isolated until we determine what he died of."

"Are you suggesting that he infected me?" It wasn't a secret that Danny was a _bit_ of a germaphobe. And the idea that he'd been _infected_ while in the damn hospital was just fucking ridiculous!

She didn't even crack a smile. "The doctor will be able to answer that after he's run some tests."

 _Well, that can't be good._ Danny thought without meaning to.

H50 H50

Steve stared at the man incredulously. "What the hell do you mean 'I can't see him'?" He'd only bee gone twenty minutes tops. As soon as he'd learned that the disturbance was a man that had made his way to Danny's floor, he'd rushed back. Steve leaned to the left and looked over the shorter doctor's shoulder and felt his heart sink somewhere around the vicinity of his shoes. A large plastic biohazard type tent had been set up and it was directly outside of Danny's room. "What the hell happened?"

Doctor Kamai took a steadying breath. "We don't have the results back from the labs yet, but the man that died in the hospital was infected with some kind of virus. We believe that Detective Williams may have been exposed. It appears to be a two stage process to set up a host or carrier and detective William's initial exposure was step one." He held up his hands to keep the military man from interrupting him. "Let me finish commander. The previous exposure to the unknown substance substantially weakened detective William's immune system. We are keeping people out of there as much for his protection as for theirs. I know that this is difficult, but you can't help him in there right now. If you really want to help him? Find out what he was exposed to and maybe we can still save his life."

 _That_ caught Steve's attention like nothing else would have. "Is there a chance he'll die from this?" His jaw clenched and his eyes kept flickering up to the quarantined room where his best friend was lying alone and probably scared. Depending on how much the hospital staff had even told him. Which for someone like Danny was worse than the truth...the half truths and the outright lies.

"It's too early to rule anything out. Please let us do our job." The doctor forced a sad smile and turned to speak a nurse that had been patiently waiting for him.

Steve didn't know what to do. His life was a series of decisions and action. But here? Now? He didn't have a goddamned idea what to do. He ran his fingers through his hair and then turned toward the elevator. Chin was waiting.

"You heard?" Steve asked quietly.

Chin's eyebrows cut down and he nodded. "I heard."

Steve's hand dropped to his side and he looked…lost. "I don't know what to do here, Chin."

A female voice interrupted them as Kono stepped from the shadows. "I think I can help with that."

Two sets of eyes flashed up, one a myriad of blue and green, and the other a deep chocolate brown. "How?" They asked in unison.

Kono smiled. "I know who we're after." Steve took a half step toward her. "And I think I know where to find them and the cure for Danny."

Steve's face reflected astonishment as he looked over at Chin and then they were moving toward the double doors of the exit. "Explain on the way to headquarters."

H50 H50

It hadn't started out as a game. In fact it was supposed to be over after that shipment of guns had been off loaded. But when his younger brother had gotten it into his head that he could do the drop without the family being involved? That's where everything had gone flying off the fucking rails!

Alaric Buchelova hated Hawaii. He was a fan of the dirt and grime that came with large cities and for some reason when one added the constant sunshine to the mix, it really messed that up. He'd been sorry to learn that Mackey was an agent. The man had been good at his job, but the family couldn't allow any infestations of law enforcement into their inner circle to go unpunished. But in taking out the FBI man, Alaric had been able to send a very clear message to Five-0 as well. Because he'd liked Mackey, he'd allowed a chance to save his own family from retribution by performing one last task for the Buchelova family…and that had been to test the new bioweapon on one specific Jersey detective.

The powder that had started the whole thing had been a priming agent. It had lowered the detective's immune response and then the added benefit of the adrenaline shots had allowed the rapid integration of the super-flu virus into the man's system. Williams wouldn't be infectious for another twenty-two hours, but then? The people of Honolulu would know what the face of a horseman looks like…death...and it would wear the body of Detective Danny Williams.

He smiled to himself at the thought of finally getting his revenge on not only Williams, but also the entire Five-0 team. They'd killed his favorite brother last year and Alaric had waited for the perfect delivery system for the family's revenge. In reality Alaric had thought that it would come in the form of the irritating man's daughter, but that had proved difficult when the detective's ex-wife kept the child in Las Vegas longer than had been anticipated. So he'd made other arrangements and it had worked out perfectly. The bioweapon was now ready and his delivery system had been members of law enforcement. What a fabulous year it had turned out to be.

"They've got that detective in a protective biohazard tent at the hospital. No one is going in there without gear on. He isn't going to be infecting anyone unless we get him out of there in the next twenty hours." Gerard expressed his irritation with the turn this personal vendetta had taken.

Alaric simply glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow. "When I want your opinion, I'll ask." The larger man pressed his lips together in frustration but nodded rather than arguing. He'd seen what happens to people that argue with anyone in the Buchelova family and it wasn't good. "Is my father being kept abreast of the developing scenarios?"

"He is." Gerard didn't go into details. He didn't need to.

"And will he be joining us or is he staying in the states?" He could call and speak to the old man himself, but that might prove unwise if his father asked too many questions about his current status. He'd been ordered to simply kill the detective and his family and then pick up the contents of the container. But that was too easy a death for the man that had killed two members of Alaric's family. So he'd devised another end for the detective, one that was more fitting for a man that had spent his life saving people. Now he was an instrument of death.

"As it stands right now, he's staying to oversee current interests back east."

Alaric's brown eyes glittered as a small smile worked its way onto his lips. "Wonderful news, Gerard. You may go." He watched as his dismissal of the larger man grated on every nerve Gerard had.

 _I think I'll go pay my detective a visit. Perhaps I can convince him to escape from the hospital?_

H50 H50

Kono stared at the report that Adam had somehow managed to get his hands on. It detailed a connection between the Yakuza and the Russian mafia. The two groups had begun working together in the 1930's and some of them had maintained that relationship through inter-family marriages. It was one such marriage that had created their current problem.

"His name is Alaric Buchelova and he is not a nice man." She held up a picture of a very good looking man with distinctive Asian attributes, but tempered by Russian genes. He was tall and well built, but it was his history that had McGarrett's stomach turning. "Alaric served with the remnants of the KGB. He is trained in everything under the freaking sun including biological agent dispersal systems."

Steve's eyes widened as they read through the long list of activities the man had been involved with in the last twenty years. It read like a laundry list of the military man's worst terrorist nightmares.

"Jesus…he's been involved in several ops that my teams were assigned to." Steve looked between the cousins and Lou as he read. "Why's he out for Danny's blood? I mean, no offense to Danny or his ability to get under someone's skin, but he's a very small fish for this shark to be focused on."

"Not as small as you think." Kono said as Chin pulled up a report from the Newark police dept. It displayed on the monitor in front of the team and he explained.

"Danny was involved in a bust that went bad. One of Vladimir Buchelova's youngest sons was killed and then there's the debacle from last year where another of the sons was killed… Alaric is the oldest and last remaining son. There's a daughter, but as far as we can tell, she's not involved with any of the family business. She's a veterinarian in Boston." Chin explained. He watched as Steve put the whole thing together in less than a minute.

"That was the man Danny shot to save me." He said without a hint of a question.

Lou sighed and ran a hand across his bald head. "And we've managed to piss this entire family off? One that has ties to both the Russian mafia and the Yakuza. Fantastic."

Something occurred to Steve and he shook his head. "We left several uniform's at the hospital watching Danny's room, right?"

Chin and Kono nodded in unison.

"Okay, and what about Grace or Charlie, and Rachel?"

"I told Rachel just enough after she and Grace left the hospital to get her on a plane to Vegas. They aren't in Hawaii any more." Kono answered quickly.

The buzzing of the office line halted all conversation as Steve grabbed for the black phone. "McGarrett."

"Commander? Put me on speaker please." Max's tight voice set off warning bells inside Steve and he immediately did as the ME had asked. "Okay, you're on. What's going on, Max?"

"The man that died in detective Williams's room was one Terrence Mackey, a member of the FBI. I have analyzed the mucus from him and applied that to detective Williams unknown illness. While I haven't been able to determine exactly what it is yet, I do know that if we don't find the cure in the next seventeen hours, detective Williams will be highly contagious and the incubation of the new strain will spread at an exponential rate once outside that containment tent."

The four members of Five-0 listened in horror as the fate of not only their friend was laid out, but also the entire Island if this got away from them. An FBI agent? What the hell was going on...Steve wondered silently.

"Max, can you reverse engineer a cure?" Chin asked softly.

There was a brief pause before the doctor answered. "Possibly, but it would be easier with a pure sample of the biological agent. This has been tampered with to increase the incubation process. I assume to deliver a lethal dose in a much more efficient manner."

Kono sucked in a breath. "You're saying that they made it worse? By exposing Danny to this, they made it faster?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Max answered reluctantly.

H50 H50

Danny couldn't believe his luck. This entire year had been one bad thing after another. He coughed and grimaced when he felt the rattle of something inside his lungs. His vision was getting worse and his head was pounding like a chainsaw was working its way through his skull. The aches of his body had increased and Danny now didn't want to even _think_ about moving. Instead he continued to lie still in the low light of his plastic bubble prison.

The low hum of the ventilation fans was the only thing that he could hear. The entire hospital floor had been closed down due to his presence. The CDC wouldn't risk moving him, or so they had told the hospital administration. They were sending a specialist from Bethesda, but the person wouldn't arrive until early morning. Danny had had so much blood drawn that he'd wondered if he was anemic because of it, he didn't feel well. But he supposed it didn't really matter; it wasn't like he wanted to eat anything because of the increasing nausea so he couldn't tell if the lightheaded feeling was from blood loss or the virus. His blue gaze slipped over to the dark window, it had to be after midnight judging by the moon. He couldn't help the slight smile at the thought. Steve would be proud that Danny had been paying attention to the navigation crap he was constantly spewing. His thoughts turned to the man on the steps and Danny frowned again. He still hadn't been able to work out the connection between the picture and the man he'd killed. He didn't understand what was happening here, but he was quite sure the metaphorical shit was about to hit the fan.

Everything was escalating so fast that they had to be close to a pinnacle here. All this had started last year and the Jersey detective hadn't felt like himself since. He just wanted things to go back to the way they'd been before that fight on the mountain with Steve. If they hadn't gone in on that tip alone, then none of this would be happening now. He felt a knot of anger settle into his gut and frowned when he couldn't identify who he was angry at. Himself? Steve? Or god himself...Danny didn't know.

A man in biohazard yellow stepped through into Danny's bubble and looked down at him in interest. He stared a little too long for the detective's liking. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." Danny snapped in irritation. He was beginning to feel like an animal at the zoo. Or maybe like that snake in the Harry Potter movie he'd watched with Grace when she was little. Either way, he didn't like it.

"Oh I'm not here to take a picture Danno, I'm here to break you out of this plastic prison." The man's voice was vaguely familiar and it Danny a minute to be offended by the man's use of his and Grace's nickname.

"What did you just call me?" He asked quietly as the man leaned closer and Danny was finally able to make out his face. "You…" Danny breathed sharply.

A smile spread across Alaric's face as he pressed his hand against the weakened detective's mouth, silencing him as he yanked the IV's from Danny's arm. Blood followed the departure of the needles and dripped down his arm onto the stark white of the bedding. Danny squeezed his eyes shut as he bit back a cry of pain. His other arm was now pulling ineffectually at the other man's rock steady hand. "Danno...I'm glad to see I made an impression the last time."

And with that he slid a needle into Danny's neck and watched as the detective's eyes rolled back in his head and he went alarmingly still. Alaric carefully unplugged the many wires and electrical pieces from around the detective and then turned to roll the man from the protective cocoon of the biohazard tent. Gerard was holding a gun on the two nurses as they stared wide-eyed as the _doctor_ rolled their infectious patient from the room and down the long hallway.

Gerard pulled out a pistol with a silencer and ended even the possibility of the two nurses notifying someone of their departure. It was easier than he had anticipated. The entire floor was void of people. There had been three uniformed HPD officers, but they had been easily dispatched before Alaric had arrived.

The unconscious detective was rolled into the back of a waiting ambulance and then they were gone. For all intense and purposes, it appeared as though nothing were amiss, until someone went to the third floor at the end of the hallway and found the bodies. Lucky for Gerard and Alaric? They had the cure, which meant that they didn't need to be concerned when the shipment arrived later that day. Because the moment port authorities opened that container, on an anonymous tip of course, the game would truly be on…as Alaric would say.

H50 H50

Thirty minutes later...

Steve jumped from the truck before it had even stopped rocking as he'd shoved it into park. "Steve, wait!" Lou called as he too exited the truck. But he wasn't as fast as the younger man and watched as McGarrett disappeared inside the hospital.

Scores of HPD cruisers lined the front of the building and news vans were now parked just outside the perimeter.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _And I'm back! Sorry for the wait between chapters. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Hope this was worth the wait. And for anyone that is worried that this is too much for dear Danno, don't worry, he's going to come out of this in one piece and stronger than when it started. It's also solidifying his and Steve's friendship in a way that I can't explain just yet, wait for it…not slash… though, so don't worry about that._

 **Please Review: If you have a minute, drop me a review? There weren't many last chapter.** **Insert sad face here** **.**


	7. Confined Spaces

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Seven**

 _Confined Spaces_

Commander McGarrett, leader of the elite Five-0 task force pushed his way into the hospital and skidded to a halt when he saw the body sheets. The metallic tang of blood was thick in the air…in fact it was only rivaled by the sterile smell of antiseptics. There were five body-shaped-sheets and his heart started to pound at the thought that one of them might be Danny.

The communication had been garbled when it came over the radios and the only thing that Steve knew for certain was that it involved the hospital. Which meant that it had to involve Danny, because there was no else there that would cause this kind of panic in the law enforcement community. Steve skidded to a halt, his eyes searching wildly; they landed on Kono as she threaded her way through the throngs of people toward him.

"It's not Danny." Kono said softly the moment her eyes connected with Steve's; he could barely hear her over the chaotic noise of the hospital.

"Where is he?" Steve demanded curtly as Lou caught up with him and Chin bounded in from the opposite direction.

"They don't know. No one saw anything." Her eyes flickered sadly over to the bodies. "The officers we assigned were killed along with the nurses on night duty. No one that can tell us what happened was left alive. They wiped the cameras clean."

"Jesus…not again." McGarrett breathed.

"Do you think this is related to his case?" Lou asked.

Steve swallowed thickly and pulled his lower lip between his teeth. "Yeah…yeah I do."

It was like being thrown back in time, the realization that once again their teammate had been taken from under their noses. And this time it had happened in a place that should have been safe, but in true Five-0 fashion, nothing about this place had been safe without one of them here watching. It was a stark reminder that they were best when they were together…and vulnerable when separated.

The tension boiled over inside the SEAL and he exploded. "I don't care what it takes! Find him!" Steve glanced between the men and women of HPD and the devastated hospital staff, his expression shifted and he lowered his voice. "Whatever it takes…just find Danny." His voice dropped several octaves and took on a dangerously low tone. "This has gone on long enough."

"Steve…we're all upset here. But we have to be smart about this. If they've exposed Danny to something then we need to know what that is or else we lose the Island, not just Danny." Chin's rational words did nothing to assuage the commander's anger at what his best friend was being put through. But they did make sense and that didn't help his bad mood one tiny bit.

"I know that. Contact Homeland Security and get their people looking too. If this is a bioweapon we're going to need their help. I'll see if I can get someone inside of naval intelligence looking into Agent Mackey." It was during times like these that Steve wished he could just put the call into Catherine like he used to. But that ship had sailed after the fiasco in Afghanistan more than a year ago. His heart twinged painfully as he reflected momentarily before he turned his focus in another direction.

"What do we know about the Buchelova family? Is there anything there we can use?"

Kono pulled out her phone and immediately pulled up the email from Newark PD. "Apparently, Danny doesn't even know that the man he killed on that raid seven years ago was related to this mob family. The guy was so far under cover that he had everything from fake financial documents to a fake birth certificate. He also had never had any run-ins with the law, so there was no reason to delve deeper into his past."

Steve pressed his fingernails into his palm so hard he left red crescent shaped marks as he fisted his hands in agitation. "No wonder Danny didn't recognize the man from the photos. But why wait for seven years to avenge his brother?"

Lou shook his head. "Mafia guys have long memories and even longer reach. And last year, Danny managed to take out his other brother. I guess that set him off. Mafia guys would wait until there was no heat coming down on their businesses before they'd pursue a new angle. I guess when Danny killed the other brother, you opened that wound back up and Alaric wasn't willing to wait any longer."

The guilt settled that much deeper into the military man's heart as he listened. "So he decided to wipe out the entire Island of Oahu? Seems a bit like overkill to me." Steve eventually shot back.

Chin tilted his head and lifted his hands as spoke, it was mirror to how Danny would have 'talked with his hands' and Steve had to look away. Chin continued. "Not really. Think about it, Steve. If they wanted to test out a new weapon that they were getting ready to sell? Then this would offer the perfect revenge. They can test their new weapon and they can go after Danny at the same time. We live on an Island where a viral outbreak can be contained and also managed a test of the dispersal radius of the weapon. It's practically flawless." He finished.

"Except that they went after Danny." Steve bit out angrily.

"Yeah, except that." Chin agreed.

They were interrupted by Dr. Kamai as he stepped into their midst. "Any leads in the search for who did this?" His eyes were slightly bloodshot and he looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"How long does Danny have?" Kono asked quietly as she stepped forward.

Doctor Kamai shifted his gaze to her and raised his eyebrows uncertainly. "Maybe twelve hours at the most. Once he crosses that two-hour threshold, it won't matter if we have the cure or not. We won't be able to reverse the damage to his cells. I believe that's what the initial powder was for. That delivery agent really did a number on Detective Williams's system and without proper intervention…" He paused for a moment before continuing. "It will irreversible."

Steve felt as though the air had been suddenly sucked from the room, his chest hurt and it had nothing to do with an injury. His eyes widened in shock as he looked away from the doctor toward his teammates and then back again. "You're saying Danny will die? If we don't find him and the cure in the next ten hours…he'll die?"

The doctor looked away from the devastated expressions of the cop's fellow teammates and nodded. "Unfortunately, that's exactly what I'm saying." He was as unhappy about this as they were. He'd gotten into medicine to heal and he hated it when the medical problem was outside his ability to help.

"God help us…" Lou whispered as Steve angrily stalked away from the doctor and his horrible prediction.

Even being the newest member of this team, he knew that without Danny this whole _team_ would fall apart. Back in Chicago he'd known a few men like Williams and they were able to hold teams together that would otherwise fail. He pulled in a deep breath and walked after Steve.

H50 H50

The warehouse was out of the way and difficult to find, even on a recent map of Honolulu. It was the reason that Alaric had chosen it. No one would be looking for that damn detective here. The virus was progressing rapidly and watching the blonde's condition deteriorate was almost as good as watching him die. The one thing that might make this better was if Alaric could somehow bring down that son of a bitchen leader of the Five-0 task force too…that warranted more consideration.

There was a freezer in the basement of this warehouse that had been used for storage and then as a meat locker for the new owner. The old man that had owned it had been more than willing to sell the place for the right price. And they weren't storing meat in there now…no. Now it was storage for vials of their virus and one very chilly cop. While using the detective, as a delivery method was a means to an end, the real reason for their visit to the Island was to test the effectiveness of this strain and then prove to their buyers that any of the people that have been inoculated against the devastating virus would survive the plague-like spread.

It was nearly an ingenious plan, if he did say so himself, and he did. Alaric moved through the concrete hallway toward the doorway and smiled to himself. He couldn't have devised a better torment for both of his brother's murderer than this. His father would truly be proud.

He looked at the small window of the freezer unit's door and stepped closer in order to see through it. A smile lifted the edges of his lips as he watched the man inside. The detective was huddled in a corner, his hands barely visible above the small blanket they'd purposely left behind. Alaric was able to make out the bloody sores on Danny's hands as the virus played havoc with his immune system. _It won't be long now, detective._ He thought viciously. In a moment of clarity he lifted his phone and snapped a picture of Danny Williams. It might come in handy later.

H50 H50

Danny pulled the edges of the threadbare wool blanket closer around his trembling shoulders. He hadn't been wearing anything but the light blue scrubs from the hospital when he'd been taken. The skin on his feet was ice cold and was doing his best to keep them off the icy floor. His breath was hanging in a visible white cloud of drifting mist that punctuated the air before him. It was a dismal reminder of his current predicament. His thoughts turned to Grace and he groaned as pain lurched through him. He just wanted to hold his little girl again…drink beers with his best friend while watching the ocean crash against the sandy shores behind Steve's house.

Even now, the detective wasn't sure exactly who had him or what their beef with him was. And he wasn't a fool; Danny knew that it had to have something to do with the man that he had killed to save Steve. But he still wasn't convinced that was _all_ this was about. In the haze of his broken mind he wondered what he'd done to deserve this? All of his failings as a cop…as a father…as a man flickered in front of his eyes like a poorly edited movie. And it was more painful that the wounds he was suffering from. A sound that he didn't even recognize as his worked its way up his throat and out into the icy world. Only one thing made this bearable, at least it was only him that would pay the price.

As long as the people that had taken him kept their vengeful eyes focused on Danny, then they weren't focusing on Grace or Rachel or god forbid…the rest of the team.

Because it had been more than just the Jersey cop on that mountain road a year ago…it had been Steve too.

The thought of sharing this fate with his partner was chilling. Danny remembered how it had felt to watch Steve disappear under the murky black water in that lava tube. There had been absolute certainty that he wouldn't see the military man again. There are people that one can't function without. People that add so much to a person's life that losing them can tip a balance that can't be reset. For Danny? Steve McGarrett was one of those people.

 _It isn't all that bad, Danny._ Blue eyes flashed up and Danny blinked in the low light. He cast his gaze outward, but there was no one there. He was definitely alone.

"Steve?" He muttered in confusion. Danny scrubbed his fingers through his hair and shook his head at the muzzy feeling clouding his thoughts. "Great, I'm talking to myself…not that that's too different than when you're actually around. You never listen to me. I might as well be talking to a wall. A very aggressive wall."

 _What? That's not true, Danno. I listen to you._ Steve's voice had taken on an edge of irritation and a prickly tone.

"Are you serious right now? You never listen to me, Steven. I ask you not to speed in my car. And you shove the pedal through the floorboards. I ask to not call me 'Danno' and you insist on doing it because you know it irritates me." He griped.

 _Not true. I call you Danno because you only let Grace call you that…and I think we're close enough that I should have that privilege too. You're my best friend, Danny. In case you hadn't noticed? I don't have too many._

Guilt flooded the detective and he groaned. "Fine. You can call me, Danno."

Danny's gaze was pulled to the large freezer door and he sighed as a particularly violent tremor rattled through his body. He couldn't even feel his feet anymore.

He wanted to make his way to that door, escape was the only thing on his mind and yet he had very little control of his trembling muscles and his rummy thoughts kept shifting like a prism's light. Whatever they'd injected him with…combined with his already weakened system; it had taken root in a way that he couldn't control. He coughed and tried desperately to ignore the burning sensation in his lungs.

"You're not even really here, ninja seal." He croaked out without thinking.

 _That doesn't mean I can't keep you company._ The voice shot back.

Danny's blonde eyebrows cut down at that. "Actually Casper, that's exactly what it means." It was more of a grumbled response to his current predicament than an actual complaint. "Great now I'm arguing with myself. You see, Steven? Do you see how irritating you are? You're not even here and I can still have an argument with you."

His brain kept switching between his current predicament and the ones in his past. He was once again confined inside a small space; only the light from the five-inch by five-inch window illuminating his cell. He coughed and felt the painful rattle of phlegm in his chest. He wasn't completely devoid of his mind, so he knew that he was deteriorating; and very quickly.

Danny shook as tremors of cold worked their way through his body. His stomach twisted in on itself and he hunched forward to try and alleviate the pain. He glanced up and lifted his hand holding it in the scant light from the window. The wound that now stretched across the back of his hand was larger than it had been in the hospital. There was now a weeping liquid, which drained away in long greenish clear paths, then dripped sluggishly until it finally made its way to the building puddle on the floor.

 _It's freezing…that's not good, Danno._ The Steve voice said quietly.

"Thank you Doctor Oz. I realize that an open weeping sore isn't a good thing." He sighed and shifted under the scratchy blanket. It wasn't quite large enough to protect his entire body. So he focused on his upper half. "Ya know, if you're gonna hang around and irritate me…you could try discussing something that might actually help? Like how do I get outta this place? Or tell me about one of those classified missions you won't talk about." His blurry vision shifted around and he swallowed the claustrophobia that threatened to derail his efforts.

 _And if I wasn't a figment of your imagination, then I might be able to discuss some of those missions. But Danny, if I was there you know what I'd be saying._ The Steve voice was relentless.

"I do?" Danny answered without much conviction.

 _Yes, right now the only one that can help you? Is you. So you need to pull yourself together and MacGuyver a way out of this meat locker so you can get back to Gracie._

"MacGuyver my way out? It's not an action verb, Steve. It's a noun. You can't just turn someone's name into a verb. What's wrong with you…besides that's more your thing than mine." He finished slowly when his thoughts congealed into something solid enough for him to grasp onto.

His eyelids were so heavy and he wanted nothing more than to lie down and just go to sleep. Maybe he could _sleep_ his way out of his current situation. Although that floor didn't look too inviting, what with the piles of wooden crates, so he decided against it.

 _That won't help you anyway and you know it. It's just your body tricking you, Danny. If you fall asleep, you may never wake up again._

"I know that, genius. I'm the one that grew up around freezing temperatures and nasty Nor-Easter storms. I don't need advice on the misfortunes of freezing to death from a guy that grew up in board shorts and flip-flops." The words were slightly slurred and the detective knew he was slipping over a precipice that he might not come back from.

Steve's mind voice shifted to worried. _You have to stay awake, buddy. Come on…just hold on. We're coming for you._

The slight hum of the freezer's motor that was creating a white noise that was lulling the detective into a very sleepy daze and he was helpless to stop it.

Danny thought of the way water drips from an icicle in the springtime in New Jersey. The slow way it would make it's way along the rigged path of the frozen ice only to drop into a small puddle that would eventually freeze into a new version of itself. He wondered if that's what happens when a person died…did they become a new and different version of themselves? If that was the case he was vying for longer stems next time, he was tired of being short. He chuckled to himself at the absurdity of his internal joke about height when he'd been thinking about a flat frozen puddle.

Oh the springtime in Jersey…only the arrival of spring and summer would restore the water to its original fluid form. He wondered if it would be the same for him? If the coming changes could restore him? Or if they would doom him to becoming a harbinger of death.

His eyebrows furrowed in consternation as Danny blinked in the dismal light, another teeth shattering shiver worked its way through his slim body. He was tired. So very tired and Danny knew that he didn't have much fight left in him. In his heart he hoped that Grace would be safe, that Steve would watch over her if this didn't go their way. Because it was looking more and more as though his legacy wouldn't be a life well lived…but death. This one thought kept turning over and over in his foggy brain and Danny was helpless to turn his troubled mind in another direction.

H50 H50

Steve was angry and frustrated. They were down to only five hours…five hours to find Danny. And the team still hadn't uncovered where to look next. It was like Alaric had just vanished off the face of Oahu. He wasn't showing up on any of the cameras that were scattered across the island. Steve slammed his palm onto his desk as his frustration reached a boiling point.

"Boss?" Kono asked as she slipped around the corner. She was carrying her tablet, her fingers frozen above it in surprise at his outburst.

He looked away from the support in her dark eyes. She knew what he was going through and he found it unnerving that his team could read him so easily. "I'm fine." He said in a low voice.

"No you're not. How could you be?" Kono sighed as she sank down onto the black leather couch. "This has literally been the year from hell. Not just for Danny, but for you too."

"All of us." Chin's interruption pulled their gazes toward the door.

A ping from the tablet diverted all their attention and Kono surged to her feet. "I got a hit." She rushed from the office and quickly set up the tablet on the computer table in the center of the room.

Steve felt a rush of adrenaline as he ran after her. "Where?" He called after her.

"North Shore…" She looked at the tablet again. "A gas station." And then she was running from the room.

He didn't even think about it, he just followed her. Without looking Steve knew that Chin and Lou were right behind their rapidly retreating forms.

"A gas station? Really? We've trying to hunt this guy all over the Island and he shows up at a gas'n'grub?" Steve's words fell on deaf ears as Kono rushed toward his truck. She knew that Steve would be driving and there was no way that she was missing this one.

H50 H50

Alaric smiled at the camera. He knew that this would bring Five-0 out and that was exactly what he wanted. His fingers ghosted over the enlarged photo as he dropped it onto the convulsing body of the man he'd just beaten to within an inch of his life. The guy wouldn't be saying anything for a very long time judging by the way his jaw hung down and to the side. He crouched down and patted the dazed man on the face, he keened in pain and Alaric smiled sadistically.

This was the first time that he'd really let his 'wild side' run amuck and he was really liking the results. "Make sure Commander McGarrett gets this." He pinched at the man's bloodied face. "Or I'll come back and I won't stop with you…"

The man's eyes widened in understanding and fear. "Good."

Alaric's eyes dropped to his watch and he smiled. "Time's almost up, Danno." He said to himself as he rose and exited the station. A fire was still burning where he'd torched a vehicle near a pump. The waiting SUV rolled forward and Alaric climbed in beside Gerard. "Let's go get our detective."

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Here ya go you awesomely crazy readers! Thanks so much for all the amazing reviews._

 **Please Review: It just takes a moment…thank you in advance.**


	8. The MacGuyver Effect

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Eight**

 _The MacGuyer Effect_

 _There are very few times during the course of a typical year that can pull families together like Christmas can. The colorful twinkling of multi-colored lights as they wrap in merry twisting patterns around trees, balconies, and front porches. The amazing giving nature of people that entices them to volunteer their time and hard earned money for those less fortunate…and the snow. One cannot forget the crystals of icy water that make the season what it is._

 _New Jersey generally had ample snow fall to create the illusion of a white blanket gently shielding the underlying ground from the harsh realities of winter. But on those occasions when the snow was both thick enough and yet thin enough…the colorful lights could work a diffusion of rainbow colored magic on the landscape. It truly was a magical time of year. And Danny Williams loved everything about it._

 _The smell of burning firewood and the warm glow of pale yellow light as it danced and played across the stone fireplace or the hardwood floors was merely one of the things Danny loved about the season._

 _On Christmas Eve the Williams children were each allowed to open one gift…it was always new pajamas, much to the children's dismay. It had taken Danny becoming a parent himself to understand that his mom and dad had planned it that way. As a kid he'd thought that his parents had the worst luck at picking out their one present on that magical night. Yeah…not so much._

 _He remembered sneaking downstairs before anyone else was awake as a little boy. Being the oldest, he'd taken it upon himself to ensure that his sisters and baby brother had the best presents. He wasn't old enough to legally work yet, so he'd collect money by shoveling sidewalks in the neighborhood or carrying groceries for the elderly. Whatever the task was, he was willing to do it. Anything that he could do from October through December he did in order to buy presents for each of his siblings and his mom and dad. It was just who he was…Danny loved to give._

 _If he suspected that presents weren't being fairly distributed he'd carefully unwrap several presents under the tree and if Matty's weren't as good as his? Well, Danny would simply rewrap some of his own presents and address the tag to his little brother._

 _*That was a little harder where his sisters were concerned. He knew that they wouldn't care if they got a He-man action figure or not. If that had been an option he'd have given them any of his toys they wanted...just to see them smile.*_

 _Danny would wait by the door of his and Matthew's shared room until exactly 5:45 in the morning, the minimum time his parents had set for wake-up, and then he'd bounce into their room struggling to control the excitement. For this one night of a year they all shared his and Mattie's room...on Christmas Eve and then he would wake up the three other Williams children. They would flounce down the garland wrapped stairs and stare in wonder at the multitude of festively wrapped presents before tearing down the final steps in search of which presents were which._

 _The glitter of happiness that he'd seen in his brother's eyes as he'd gotten the Nintendo, intended for Danny, had made it worth giving up the gift. But the look of confusion on his father's face hadn't been easily forgotten…or forgiven. The entire Williams household would wade through a sea of brightly colored wrapping paper in search of the last presents before heading to the kitchen table for the annual Christmas morning breakfast._

 _Laughter would break through the early morning atmosphere in a way to couldn't be duplicated at any other time of the year. Danny's father would take over the kitchen on this one morning. Bacon would sizzle in the cast iron pan on the stove, while pancakes and waffles cooked to a perfect golden brown in the mickey-mouse waffle iron or on the long griddle. And then there had been the eggs…fried to perfection in the left over oil from the bacon, crispy on the edges in just the right way._

 _For that one day, Danny's family had been flawless. No fighting amongst the four children. His father had been home from the firehouse and his mother had smiled until she'd complained that her cheeks hurt. It was always the ideal day._

That was why it was so important to Danny to give that to his daughter, that one perfect day. There were so many things that he couldn't give Grace. Things that Stan could and that hurt in ways that Danny couldn't even identify. He'd done his best to give Rachel and Grace everything they _needed_ , but he just couldn't provide what his ex-wife _wanted_.

Danny didn't know what jarred him from the warmth of the pleasant fiction his mind had been spinning, but he moaned its loss and regretted the fiery wash of pain as he peeled his eyelids open. There was an odd smell in the freezer unit and he couldn't quite identify what it was. So he decided to ignore it. His entire body was trembling and he didn't know if it was from the cold or the drug he'd been exposed to. His thoughts were coming in disjointed fractured memories and coalescing into something wholly confusing for the injured blonde man.

The detective didn't know how long he'd slept. It could have been for an hour or ten minutes. Time was starting to lose its hold on him. He blinked several times trying to force some coherent thoughts into his fuzzy mind.

Danny frowned as a particularly violent shiver worked its way through him and he toppled forward, hitting his temple on a metal storage shelf. Pain blossomed inside his head and he whimpered as he slid to the cold floor. There was instant wet warmth that began seeping down his face and then the smell of something with a metallic ring to it invaded his nose. Danny couldn't force himself to sit up. The boneless disobedience of his body was frustrating him or it would be if he were thinking clearly.

For a man hell bent on controlling as many things in his life as he could, Danny had startlingly little control over the one thing he should at this moment…his own body. It was a moment of both clarity and humiliation that reminded him of this fact. In the hospital he'd been hooked to IV fluids. And his body no longer cared to store these fluids.

Danny could feel the cold metal floor leaching what little warmth he'd managed to achieve inside the sad excuse for a blanket and he tried to push up. Between the dizziness and his lack of coordination, he knew that he wouldn't make it far.

A loud thump pulled his frazzled thoughts back to the present and Danny forced his rebellious eyelids to flicker and open. He couldn't see anything but a blob that seemed to be taking up most of the space. He blinked and hauled his arm up and in front of his head. The pull against his skin as it abraded over the grated flooring of his frozen prison was instantaneous, but it was the least of the detective's worries.

Freezing cold air was now being forced into the already icy walk-in freezer. It was getting hard to care whether or not he moved as a strange warmth seemed to seep into Danny's body. _Hypothermia_ …he thought without meaning to.

Ignoring the nausea rolling through him, Danny pulled himself forward a few inches. He couldn't sit up, he tried, but the immediate flare of bile working its way up his throat convinced him it was a bad idea. "Where are you when I need you, Steve." He whispered hoarsely. The panic was coming back and he knew that it wouldn't help him.

 _I'm right here with ya, buddy._ The disembodied voice answered immediately and Danny sighed when it help to alleviate some of his panic. _Oh Danno…you're a mess._

"Tell me some…thing I…do…don't know." He managed flippantly even as his body faltered.

 _You're almost to the freezer door?_

Danny stopped and forced his tired aching muscles to lift his heavy head so he could see the blurry shape directly in front of him, it was indeed the door. "Does that re...really...matter?"

 _Of course it matters!_ Steve's voice shifted to angry and frustrated. _Danny, no one knows where you are. And you have a daughter to get back to, so stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something!_

Danny coughed. He coughed so hard that he couldn't catch his breath at first. The raw constriction of his ragged throat hurt so badly he saw stars flashing in front of his eyes. He finally wheezed as blessed oxygen filled his starving lungs. "You can't yell at me…I'm dying." He whispered as he dropped his head onto his arms. He just needed to rest…just for a moment.

 _No, Danny! Get up and keep moving. And I'm not yelling. I'm simply expressing myself in a very forceful manner, as the situation clearly dictates._

There was a twitch to Danny's blonde eyebrows as he listened to his best friend justify himself. Danny was starting to drop in and out of consciousness and he was now struggling to figure out what was real and what was a creation of his own mind was proving difficult. "Steve?"

When no one answered, Danny reached up and wiped blood from his eyes before gritting his teeth and forcing his arm out in front of him. Reaching fingers ghosted over something and froze. The cool metal cylinder was small. Small enough to be a container for something. Danny blinked several times and then forced his rebellious body into a semi-seated position. The wool blanket was trailing over his legs and he struggled to reach back and pick it up in trembling fingers.

All he wanted was to sleep. It would be so easy and this whole year would be erased in a moment of blissful rest.

 _You can't think that way, Danny. What about Grace? What about your parents? They already lost one son. They won't survive losing a second child._ There was a brief silence before the voice added one more critical person to this list. _What about me?_

The bubbling moan of anguish that climbed out of Danny's belly was heart wrenching, even to his own ears. He knew that he couldn't just lie down and sleep. God help him... In a last show of strength that he hadn't even known he possessed, Danny focused his mind on the singular task of escape. He shoved down the claustrophobia and the panic that would cripple him if he allowed it and made a move to save himself.

The shivering of his muscles stopped, but now there was a lethargy there that made using his fine motor skills nearly impossible. Even if Danny had been able to find something to 'pick the lock' on the door, he didn't have the muscle control to make use of that particular skill.

His blue eyes scanned the small area and he frowned when he saw a box marked 'First Aid' in the corner. _Who puts their first aid kit in a freezer?_ He wondered and then he giggled. _Guess they wanted to keep it on ice._

Steve's mind voice interrupted the strange moment. _Danny, there might be something you can use in that kit. And that was a terrible joke. Grace wouldn't have laughed at the one._

Danny slowly forced his body onto his hands and knees before he started crawling forward. His head swam in bursts of pain and confusion, but he held onto that voice. The one that sounded so much like Steve. The one that was insisting he survive. The limited light from the door window was just barely enough to make out the small kit attached to the wall. "That's not true, Steven. I'll…have you k…kno…know…that Gracie loves…my…my…jokes." He could hear the stutter in his usually steady voice, but Danny couldn't bring himself to care.

 _You're getting worse._

"I k…know…th…that." Danny mumbled through swollen lips. He dragged his body toward the wall and stopped just below the kit. With an effort that sapped what was left of his energy reserves, Danny looked up. The coveted first aid kit was just above his head. He swallowed the all encompassing pain and forced his arm to move.

Danny was no stranger to the gym. He enjoyed the feeling of working out and the general soreness that accompanied it. But as his body fought him for control, he almost sobbed his frustration when the arm refused to lift higher than his chest.

 _You can do it, Danno. One more time. Try again. For Grace…_

Danny blinked back the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes and bit his lip so hard he tasted blood, as he demanded that his arm perform. He didn't know for sure, but he thought he cried out at some point when the fiery agony reached an explosive level. And suddenly his fingers drifted across something hard and cold. In a final show of strength, Danny shoved his entire body up and the first aid kit toppled from its resting place. It landed in a cacophony of noise and skidded a few feet from where Danny slumped.

The world started to spiral down to a pinpoint and through sheer stubbornness of will, Danny managed to stay conscious. He didn't have another push left in him. If he lost his battle and allowed the darkness to claim him…that would be it.

His body literally fell forward closing the distance between himself and the contents of the first aid kit. The short fall to the cold grated floor had broken the plastic box and it had spilled its _guts_ across the floor. Danny's fingers drifted over the packages of gauze and tape. He saw the glint of the silver scissors that were standard in a medical kit, but his eyes kept searching until they landed on something he hadn't expected to find, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

In a rare moment of complete clarity, Danny realized that he had a chance, a real chance at surviving this nightmare. The smell that he'd caught earlier...he was finally able to identify it as an additive put into natural gas. Which meant that there was a leak somewhere in this freezer. That realization gave him another idea...

 _Danny, don't do this._ Steve's voice begged when an idea solidified inside the detective's head.

"At least it'll…be…b…warm." He stammered.

 _We're coming for you, Danny. You know we are. Just hang on a little longer._

"Thought you ww…wa…wanted me to…escape?"

 _I do! But I did not want you to blow yourself up to do it._

"I wo…won't." Danny promised. His tongue felt fat and hard to control. He realized that his condition was worsening and if he waited he may not get another chance. "Ggg…otta try." He mumbled softly as he struggled to pull the lighter between numb and disobedient fingers. "MacGuyer would…"

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Take a read and let me know what you think… A huge, massive, enormous thank you to everyone that too a moment to review the last chapter. I appreciate your time._

 **Please Review: And I'll try and get you another chapter this weekend.**


	9. Danny's Plan

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Nine**

 _Danny's Plan_

The soft glow of the fire was visible from miles away and the two men in the blue Chevy pickup glanced at one another as they rounded the last turn on the old highway. It was way off the beaten path and buried inside a forest of enormous trees. But not the glow...that could be seen from the freeway. The gas station was completely engulfed in angry orange and yellow flames. The black smoke rolling off the fire was bleak and sickly looking, encasing anything it could wrap its tendrils around. Kono's car was parked off to the side. Someday Steve was going to ask her how she always beat them to the scenes. Either she drove like a maniac or she had secret ways to get around the Island that she hadn't shared with the team.

One thought was turning itself over and over inside Steve's head. _Please don't let Danny be in there. Please don't let Danny be in there. Please don't let Danny be in there._ The mantra just kept rolling through his mind as the truck slammed to a stop.

Steve and Chin jumped out and raced across the grass toward the gas station. The fire department was still trying to control the blaze from the pump in front of the station. The whirling lights of the engines combined with blue and white of the cop cars set a tone that was difficult to see as anything but severe.

"One body inside. He's pretty bad. It looks like the poor guy was beaten to death. No sign of a gunshot wound." Kono said as she stalked toward them. Something in her face was telling Steve there was more to. She glanced over her shoulder where Lou was talking to the son of the man that owned the place. "That's Niles, he lives a few miles away. His father has owned this station for twenty years. He found the body and called it in."

"No enemies to speak of?" Chin asked as he scanned the emergency scene. He was looking for anyone that didn't belong. If this was an arson case, most arsonists liked to see the damage their fires cause. But all he saw was firemen and officers with HPD.

She shook her head. "Not that he knows of. His father owned the place free and clear and he worked it himself to keep the overhead low." Her brown gaze drifted back to the blaze. "This doesn't make any sense. Why kill this man?"

"It's a message." Steve answered without thinking. Something about this was familiar to Steve, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Are you sure?" Kono wondered as she too looked back at the chaotic scene.

"Yeah, I'm sure. This entire Island is this man's playground and he wants us to know it." Anger churned in his gut and Steve ground his teeth together. Even if this guy hadn't signed his own death warrant by taking Danny, he would have been at the top of the commander's list now.

Steve's eyes were caught by an HPD detective weaving his way through the throngs of people toward the Five-0 team. Steve's eyebrows furrowed in concern when the man stopped directly in front of him. "Commander, the investigating officer found something that you should see." His dark eyes communicated his concern as he handed a piece of paper to Steve. "This was on the body inside."

Steve reached out and took the paper and turned it over so he could see what was on it. His heart nearly crashed through his chest when he saw Danny. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw Danny huddled in a very dark place. The detective's hands were grasping desperately at a pathetically small blanket. He had several weeping wounds similar to the ones on the man that had died at the hospital. Which meant that the virus was taking a deeper hold on the missing detective. But it was his face and the look in his eyes that really broke Steve's heart.

Danny looked lost. He was staring straight ahead and there was a slight downward slope to his blonde eyebrows. Like he was trying to remember something or figure something out that made no sense. It was a heartbreaking portrayal of the strong man that Steve knew Danny to be.

"Oh god…" Kono had stepped next to him without him realizing it. Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes shifted toward Chin's. "It's Danny." She whispered.

He couldn't afford to lose it now, so Steve locked his raging emotions in a tiny little box and focused on the situation. "You said they found this on the body?"

The HPD detective nodded. "Pretty sure it's a message of some kind, but damned if I know what that means."

Lou groaned and stepped up to get a better look. "It means this son of a bitch thinks he can play with us."

"And he has Danny and he is definitely willing to kill." Chin offered his observation. It was hard to see his friend like that. As close as Steve and Danny were? Chin wasn't that far down the friendship food chain. He and Danny had become close over the last five years and he was feeling the loss of the snarky little man every bit as keenly as Steve was.

After Malia had died, Danny had been the one to sit with Chin. No words had been exchanged. None needed to be, Chin simply needed someone to be there with him and Danny had gladly stepped up. That had gone on for weeks before Chin felt stable enough to attempt returning to a normal version of his life. But Danny had never complained. He'd even brought Grace a few times and they'd baked cookies and then watched old movies with Chin. Always in silence, but always present.

He couldn't imagine what their lives would be like without Danny. Sure, they all gave one another a hard time. But that's what family does and this small five man team was definitely Ohana.

Steve's eyes were a dark stormy color as he stepped toward the entrance to the station. "Are we sure this was Alaric?"

Kono nodded. "We ran the surveillance tape twice and he wasn't exactly trying to hide his face." She shivered at her next thought. "He wanted us to know it was him…and that he has Danny."

Steve pulled in a frustrated breath and ran his hand down his face as he tried to think of their next move. "Any chance we get something off the tape we can use?"

She frowned and looked over at Chin. "We'll take it back and analyze it for anything we might be missing."

"We're running out of time here guys." Steve said angrily. "Danny is running out of time."

"Steve, we know that." Chin laid a gentle hand Steve's shoulder and then he glanced around, his eyes landing on an outdoor camera covering the pumps. He tilted his head and stepped closer. "Kono, did you check both tapes?"

Another screaming siren interrupted him and they all looked over at the newest arrival to the scene. It was another fire engine and the men in black and yellow poured out of the massive machine in an organized yet chaotic manner.

Steve looked over at Kono hopefully and then swallowed what he wanted to say and opted for her name. "Kono?"

"No. I hadn't noticed that there was a second camera." She said as she turned and rushed back toward the station.

Lou hesitated and then asked the question he'd been holding back. "How much time does Danny have left?"

The generally stoic military man looked down at his watch and worry creased through his brow. "Four hours."

"We're going to find him, Steve." Chin reassured.

Steve didn't know if he actually believed Chin or if he was so desperate to believe that he simply nodded before moving determinedly toward the station and Kono.

H50 H50

The cold had driven all the feeling from Danny's fingers as he tried to ignite the small lighter. He'd been so focused on it that he hadn't noticed his blanket had slid to the floor and his body was no longer shivering. But the slow and simplified response of his muscles was making him crazy as he struggled to move his thumb and forefinger in pre-designated pattern.

"Ccc…comme….on!" He complained when the silver lighter again slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor. Danny's gaze lifted up toward the ceiling for a moment. He just needed a little bit of help here. Was that too much to ask?

He reached out for the lighter with agonizing slowness as his muscles tried to obey the commands from his faulty brain. A drop of sweat rolled down his face and landed on the metal grating that covered the bottom of the freezer. He stared at the spot it had landed and couldn't help the inappropriate laughter at his situation. Ever since he'd been a kid he'd laughed when a situation was out of his control. That childhood response had followed him into adulthood.

 _Keep it together Williams._ He managed when the laughter seared its way through his head and down into his damaged chest. He coughed and the burn inside his lungs intensified the pounding in his head and he finally leaned back and moaned.

Danny had no idea how long he'd been locked in the meat locker. He had no sense of the passage of time, but he did know that he was getting steadily worse. His body was more and more sluggish to respond. His internal _Steve_ voice had fallen silent a long time ago and he couldn't even make his hands obey simple commands. They were trembling with the effort of holding that small lighter. His gaze dropped to the evil little device on the floor and he made one more push to get it back in his hands.

He nearly celebrated when he didn't fall over grabbing it up again. But Danny understood that this was it. He could feel the slow descent of oblivion and he wasn't strong enough to fight it much longer. He swallowed the dry painful fire that now lived in his throat and lifted the lighter toward his face. The smell inside the freezer was stronger than ever and he had one last thought before he tried this again.

 _Is there a way to send the explosion in a certain direction?_ He wondered and forced his blurry eyes to look around him again. The cylinder that he'd grabbed earlier was still sitting unused on the floor. He furrowed his eyebrows and reached out with his unoccupied hand. The lighter was still clenched in his left and he wasn't willing to set it down.

The low light barely allowed him to identify a liquid inside the canister and he inhaled sharply when he realized what it might be. That set off a cacophony of wracking coughs that shook the detective to his very bones. Blood trickled from his lips and suddenly he understood why the man in the hospital had had blood in his mouth. He'd literally coughed the lining of his lungs into a bloody mess.

Carefully he set the silver canister back on the floor, sliding it under the shelves. His eyes caught on the metal shelving and he noticed that there was a small space directly behind it. It wouldn't completely protect him, but it would offer something. And the metal boxes on the pallet in the center would help throw the explosion away from him and toward the door. Using reserves that came from god knew where, Danny inched his traitorous body toward the space.

He'd read once that people suffering from Crone's Disease describe an outbreak as having the limbs brutally torn from their bodies. The pain was so great that simply picking up a box of cereal or a small child was like having fire injected directly into the nerves. If that was the case, he pitied them. Because if it was anything like he felt at this exact moment he had no idea how they lived with that on a recurring basis.

Danny cried out as the pain rose to a crescendo of agony, but he made it to the spot between the wall and the shelf. His breathing was so labored that it was hard to catch his breath and his vision was starting to gray at the edges and swim in and out of focus. "Steve?" He called hopefully. Silence…

He waited for a moment but when his friend didn't answer, Danny wondered, in his delirious state, if he'd done something to drive him away. He swallowed his fear and self-recrimination and closed his eyes sending a prayer up. In one last bid to rescue himself he wedged the lighter between knees and pressed his thumb against the small igniter. There was a pop-hiss and then a crackling as light flooded the room and someone opened the freezer's door.

"Detective? Oh detective Williams? Now where did you get off to." Alaric's voice drifted into the room and Danny nearly sobbed in frustration. He was so close. The booted heels of someone walking into the meat locker spurred Danny to pull desperately at the small device.

There was a click and then it flared to life and Danny couldn't help the small smile of victory as he leaned his head out from his hiding space. The man that had taken him from the hospital was standing five feet away and he was staring directly at Danny.

"There you are. Have you been trying to escape? Even in the face of death you refuse to recognize your end. I can understand that." He took a step forward and then his eyes dropped to the small flame in Danny's hands. His gaze flew up to meet the Jersey man's as Danny smiled through the pain.

"Yippie ki yay mother fucker…" He croaked out as the smug smile fell from the man's face and he realized his mistake. He surged forward, but it was already too late.

Danny tossed the lighter and watched with satisfaction as the flames found the vapors that had been trapped in the airtight freezer and the entire space lit up like a Christmas tree.

"You bast—" Alaric's insult was cut off as the entire freezer erupted in an explosion and blew him out of the metal box. He landed hard on his back, his head slamming into the ground and then he was completely still.

Danny was thrown against the other wall, his head contacting the smooth surface so hard that his already dazed thoughts were rocked again and darkness descended. Blessed heat and flame race upward seeking the source of the gas and all the sores and injuries on the detective were visible for that one moment. He was a mess. The hairs on Danny's arm singed and burned and his blanket blackened as the fire destroyed it. But the fire didn't seek out the damaged detective where he hid. It burned merrily as it destroyed the pallet of material, the vials popping and cracking under the intense heat.

H50 H50

Steve had the newest tape in hand. He and Chin were headed back to headquarters to search it for any useful information. His phone rang and he made a grab for it and then bit his lower lip in agitation when he saw Grace's name pop up. He didn't know what to say to Danny's little girl. He didn't know anything yet and what he did know wouldn't bring the child any comfort. He swallowed and answered anyways.

"Hey, Gracie."

There was a slight hitch to the child's breathing before she spoke. "Uncle Steve? Have you found Danno?"

The hope in her voice was like having acid poured into a wound and Steve inhaled deeply before answering. "Not yet, kiddo. But we're going to."

A sob on the other end of the line broke McGarrett's heart and he leaned into the leather of his truck. Chin stayed silent on the other side. "He's not coming back is he?" She managed through the heart breaking sobs.

"He is, Grace. I swear I'm gonna bring Danno home and he's going to be fine."

Chin's eyes flashed over to him and he opened his mouth to say something, but the tears brimming on the edges of Steve's lashes had him popping his mouth closed again.

"Promise?" Grace asked weakly.

Steve blinked and one tear rolled down his cheek before he answered. "I promise." Because there was no other outcome that was acceptable. He would bring the snarky, irritating, and ranting detective back home or he would die trying.

The phone clicked and Steve knew she must have hung up before he pulled the device from his ear. He didn't look at the man sitting next to him, he simply dropped the truck into drive and started to move.

An HPD officer ran toward the blue Chevy before it could pull away. He was waving his arms frantically to get the attention of the distracted driver. "Commander! Commander McGarrett!"

Steve glanced over at Chin and immediately rolled to a stop. The other man shrugged. "No idea." He answered to the unvoiced question in Steve's eyes.

He rolled his window down and waited for the officer to catch his breath. "There's been another explosion." He gasped for air and Steve wondered where the hell the guy had run from. "Down in the warehouse district. Off Punehoe street."

Steve's eyes flashed to meet Chin's. "That's where Danny is." He didn't know why he knew that. But he was certain that this was the work of Danny.

"Jesus…" Chin said as Steve shifted from the brake to the gas they peeled out of the area and back toward town…and hopefully Danny.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _I know it's shorter than I generally post. But here's the next chapter and we're not quite out of the woods yet. Thank you to everyone that took a moment to drop a review, I appreciate the time you took._

 **Please Review: A shameless request I know…but I make it nonetheless.**


	10. Then and Now

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Ten**

 _Then and Now_

 _2009…_

" _What the hell do you mean you don't know what happened? Where the hell is my daughter!" Danny cried into his phone. He weaved through two cars and a semi as he pressed harder on the accelerator. The old Ford whined as it picked up speed and sped across the bridge toward Grace's school. The rain was plastering the windshield in sheets of water, making it difficult to see. He nearly plowed into the end of big pickup truck when it stopped suddenly. Danny dropped the phone and grabbed the wheel with both hands. "God Damn-it!"_

 _The call had come in while he'd been interrogating a suspect in a triple homicide. He hadn't even thought about it before running from the room, leaving his stunned partner to stare after him. "Danny?" He barely registered the call from his partner as the door slammed shut behind him._

 _Now as he pulled into the parking lot, his heart in his throat, he understood his mother's concern with his own job. Not that this was remotely the same thing, but the fear that a parent feels for their child was as debilitating when they become adults as when they are in first grade._

 _The whir of the Fire Engine sirens drowned out his own alternating tones as his police cruiser slammed to a stop. Danny took a fraction of a second to send up a prayer before he jumped from the car and raced toward the fire line. His cell phone started to buzz, but he couldn't bring himself to stop his flight to answer it. He knew from the ring tone that it was Rachel, but he didn't know anything yet._

" _Sir! You can't go in there." A fire fighter came out of nowhere and threw a burly arm across Danny's chest. He was surprised when the small blonde man grabbed his wrist and twisted it into a joint lock, sending the guy to the ground with a grunt of pain._

" _My daughter's in there." Danny growled out. He slid past the other firefighters and ran through the building smoke into the school. He coughed as he tried to see his way through the thick smoke._

' _Not your brightest moment, Williams.' He thought silently as his breath caught and his throat seized on the smoke. But it didn't matter. Grace hadn't been with her class when they'd been evacuated. Her teacher had told the Fire Department that she'd gone to the gymnasium to get the kick balls for recess. Grace and another student name Hannah…neither of them had been accounted for after the school caught on fire._

" _Grace!" Danny choked out as he moved through the narrow hallway. "Gracie! Call out, baby!" He stumbled against the wall and pulled in a ragged breath. His hands dropped reflexively to his knees and he bent over as he hacked several times trying to clear his lungs. When it didn't really help, he covered his mouth with his shirt and willed his rubbery legs to move._

 _He hadn't been to the school often, but lucky for him the few times that he had been? He'd been in the gym for school presentations. "Daddy?!" A small voice travelled down the hall._

" _Grace!" He called again as he started forward into a stumbling run, his eyes were burning from the smoke and he could feel tears running freely as he struggled forward. Ahead of him, Danny could barely see the orange glow of the fire and it was just on the other side of the double doors into the gym._

" _Danno?!" Her voice filtered through the air again and Danny shook off any reservations and plowed through the door. The handles were glowing red, they were so hot. He hit the doors with his shoulders and they blasted inward. Just on the other side, kneeling on the floor, was Grace and Hannah._

 _She rushed forward when she recognized Danny and threw herself into his open arms. There were tear tracks running through the soot that had collected on her cheeks. "Danno! I knew you'd come for me!" She coughed several times as Danny hugged her close to his chest._

" _I'll always come for you." He whispered._

 _The heat from the fire was awful as Danny carried the two girls toward the entrance. He was nauseated from inhaling too much smoke and his muscles were screaming from lack of oxygen as he forced his body past collapse toward the exit sign glowinglike a beacon in the distance._

 _H50 H50_

2015…

A low thrum was the first thing that presented itself to Danny as his brain tried to restart itself. There was a disjointed nausea associated with the rhythmic sound and he unconsciously clenched his teeth together. Heat was the second thing he noticed…and none of it made any sense. His entire body was pulsing in a frenetic pain that was both disturbing and confusing. He wanted to vomit so badly it physically hurt.

An odd numbness was keeping his body compressed in an increasingly uncomfortable way. Danny wasn't a big man, he knew that, but his body was currently folded into an extremely twisted position and he was struggling to recall why. Something about being cold…very cold…and then he wasn't cold…he was on fire… _no wait. That's not it._

"Steve?" One thought was playing through the confusion in his head and that was 'where was Steve?' He called his partner's name softly and waited for a moment for an answer. Unease settled into his gut when he didn't receive one. His throat was burning and his arms felt like they had after a particularly brutal summer vacation in Montauk when he'd been a kid. That had been his first real case of sunburn and he'd learned that day that if you're a natural blonde? You need to wear freaking sunscreen. He tried to swallow his confusion and pain, but it was thrumming steadily whether he liked it or not.

He shoved one leg out and hissed at the pain that instantly rushed up. "Son of a bitch…" He choked out hoarsely. Danny's breathing was coming in short pants and sweat was rolling down his face, as he demanded that his other leg stretch out. He took a deep breath and sent up a silent prayer before he shoved forward and toppled to the floor. His ribs must have hit something because the air was knocked from him and he moaned in pain as a result. His arm hurt like a son of a bitch and he was pretty sure that something was seriously wrong there...broken?

A tremor rocketed through him and he swallowed the sour tasting bile before forcing his sticky and unresponsive eyelids apart. The blurry red and yellow of his surroundings was confusing. It was like he was sitting inside one of the sunsets he loved so much. He wanted nothing more than to lay there and just let the world stop spinning or for his ribs to stop screaming in agony. It was just a bit of a surprise when he heard-

 _You need to move Danny._ Steve's voice warned him.

Danny's blue gaze dropped down and he blinked in surprise when he saw the white of bone sticking out of his forearm. There was seriously abraded skin below the bone, it looked like he'd crashed a bike? _I wasn't on a bike…was I?_

Steve's desperate voice broke through the red haze of pain. _Danny, listen to me. Yes, you have a broken arm, probably a busted rib, a concussion and yes; you've been infected with some kind of deadly disease. I also agree that you've earned a 'time out'. But you need to get your ass out of this place._

Danny's eyes widened at the list and he managed a laugh. It was a hysterical sound that was so out of place under the current circumstances that even he noticed it. "Anything else I should know about? Cuz I mean seriously, Steven? Did you listen to that list? I'm pretty much screwed here."

 _No, Danny. You're gonna get out of here. Then I'm going to find you and we're going to fix all this. I think that that small canister might be important. Think you can bring it with you?_

His blonde eyebrows cut down in increasing confusion. "Canister?" Danny repeated slowly. Trying to capture his scattering thoughts was like watching a cloud being blown apart by a storm. _Grace._ Think about Grace...Just the thought of his daughter had him gulping back his disgust at his own weakness.

 _I swear to god Danny. If you don't get moving I'm telling Grace about the Claustrophobia._ It was a threat, but one that Danny was sure his obnoxious partner would keep.

"You can't do that. You promised me, Steven." The detective hissed through the pain. Even in his current mental state, he knew that he didn't want his daughter knowing about that particular phobia. She still thought that he hung the moon and that he could do anything. Granted he knew better, but she didn't know that and he wasn't about to give that up.

He moaned when he felt the distinct flare of fire along his ribs and the entire room spun precariously when he leaned forward. He clamped his eyelids shut and bit at his lip to keep from throwing up. "I don't think I can move, Steve." A feeling of betrayal at his body's weakness washed over him and the detective's eyelids dropped closed for a moment anger.

There was desperation to Steve's voice that hadn't been there a moment before. _Yes you can, Danny. You can move. You have to. We can't lose you._

"Why're you always telling me what to do?" Danny groused as he again tried to move his beleaguered body.

 _Because you won't listen to anyone else._

Danny moaned in strange little distressed sounds that reeked of weakness, even in his own ears before he purposely put weight on his busted arm. His cry of pain was ripped through the fire that was lining his throat, but it centered him enough to focus his thoughts.

H50 H50

Alaric's return to consciousness wasn't slow and progressive like it appears in the movies. It was like everything else in his life…fast and painful. He groaned when his head exploded in pain and he tried to piece together what the fuck had happened. He'd been headed back to finish off the detective, but something had gone wrong. He forced himself into a seated position and wrapped his fingers around his aching skull.

"Sir? Are you okay?" Gerard's voice came from nowhere and everywhere all at once. It felt as though he was screaming the question, though Alaric knew that not to be the case. Alaric would kill the man for the insolence if it had actually happened that way. Within seconds his fuzzy mind filled the gaps and his anger roared up out of his gut.

"Fucking cop blew up my freezer." He managed as he shoved up onto his knees and then slowly climbed back to his slightly unsteady feet. Gerard didn't offer to help. He knew the consequences for making the wrong overture where Alaric was concerned.

There was a hiss of air and he looked over at the large man in question.

"What?" Something about the other man's face wasn't a good thing. But the mafia man wasn't sure exactly what that meant and he hated guessing games.

"Sir, the virus…it was inside that freezer." He let the admission trail off and Alaric knew there was something else he wasn't being told.

"Gerard…" He warned. Bastard better finish that sentence because Alaric didn't have the patience to deal with this right now. They had a timetable to keep.

"Due to the need for the reduced temperature…the cure was in there too."

"Fuck!" Alaric cried and then winced as his head pounded painfully. "That god-damned detective!" A red haze settled around the edges of his vision as his gaze panned the area. "Where the hell is he?!"

H50 H50

The warehouse district was just ahead and Steve was nearly vibrating with anticipation. There was a hole in his gut that he hadn't been able to fill since Danny had gone missing…again. He pulled his pistol out and ejected the magazine checking the rounds. He slapped the edge of the magazine against his palm and 'seated' the rounds against the back, ensuring that they wouldn't jam up when he needed them most. There were fifteen in the magazine. There were always fifteen in the magazine and one in the chamber. The words of his voice echoed in his head 'son, never lose track of how many bullets you've got left.' His father's voice had dropped and he'd patted Steve on the back. 'It might save your life someday.'

Steve thinned his lips at the memory and shoved the weapon back together. Chin's gaze turned toward him and he frowned. The Navy man looked frazzled and while he understood where it was coming from, he knew that Steve needed to be clearheaded. Not only to keep his own senses sharp, but if they actually found Danny, the detective was going to need his help.

"We're going to find him, Steve." Chin assured.

Steve nodded, but remained silent. He didn't know how to tell Chin that he was sure they'd find Danny in that damn warehouse. The question that he couldn't voice was whether or not they'd be in time. Would this be the one time that he wouldn't be able to save his best friend? He swallowed the immediate lump in his throat and stared out the window at the passing countryside. He'd let Chin drive when his thoughts had remained fractured and chaotic. It wasn't something he would do under normal circumstances, but this one time he didn't think he could concentrate.

The warehouse came into view and Steve sucked in a hiss of shocked air. "What the hell?"

There was a fire raging exactly where the warehouse was located. The flames were licking high into the early morning sky. Chin looked over at him and pulled to the side of the road before shoving the gearshift into park. Steve bolted from the truck before it stopped rocking and raced toward the glowing building, pistol already in hand.

"Steve!" Chin called after his disappearing back.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Sorry for the delayed postings, had to travel for the holidays and internet access was spotty. So here's the next chapter…thanks to everyone that read and reviewed! I appreciate so much!_

 **Please Review: Just drop a sentence or two…thanks everyone!**


	11. Rescuing Danny

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Eleven**

 _Rescuing Danny_

Danny struggled forward, his legs leaden with pain and muscle stiffness. His vision was blurring in and out as he leaned heavily against the immoveable cement walls. Behind him there was a bright red trail marking his passage down the long hallway. His head was thumping methodically and he wanted nothing more at the moment than to drop to his knees and allow the darkness to claim him. But he couldn't do that…he had family and friends that were depending on him. His broken arm was curled into his abdomen as his shoulder made contact with the cement wall.

His good hand was wrapped around the small cylinder that seemed too important to leave behind. Steve had told him to take it. And as much as he'd wanted to argue with his best friend, something told him that now wasn't the time. So he'd done something that Danny rarely did, he simply did as he was told. The air was wafting past him in a multi-hued cloud that reminded him of the Disney film 'Fantasia' and the dancing… _what had been dancing? Hippos? Pandas?_

Danny blinked several times and still couldn't place the film. A sudden scream from behind him had his body shuddering in remembered fear.

"Detective Williams! I'm gonna peel the flesh from your bones! And then I'm going to fillet that partner of yours!" Alaric's voice bounced around inside the warehouse as Danny inhaled in a wheeze and started moving forward again, ignoring the intense alarm at the threat.

The next thing he knew he was coughing in a painful cacophony of phlegm filled gasps. The fire was now burning in pockets of heat and flame that kept him moving in a singular direction. But he kept putting one foot in front of the other.

 _Just keep moving, Danny. That's it buddy! You're doing great._ Steve was doing his best impression of an obnoxious cheerleader, as far as Danny was concerned.

The fire had receded enough that he was able to make it to the end of the hallway, his legs dragging in broken steps toward escape…toward freedom. The heat from the fire was right the edge of being painful. Danny continued pushing himself on. His world had spiraled down a single thought. _Get back to Grace._ The stampeding footsteps echoing behind him only heightened his fluctuating fear, but his body wouldn't obey his demands. And he continued to trudge forward at an agonizingly slow pace

"I need help here, Steve…" He whispered as a set of finger's entwined themselves into his scrubs from behind. Danny's feet finally lost their battle with the cement floor as he felt himself hauled backwards and slammed to the ground. The detective's head crashed into the concrete and he felt the blackness again threaten his grasp on the "here and now". He couldn't hold back the cry of pain as his broken arm slipped from its precarious position against his body and collided with the unforgiving floor.

Long fingers wrapped themselves around his throat; cutting the precious oxygen he'd been able to get into his battered lungs. A high-pitched wheeze was the only sound Danny made at the surprise attack. The fingers of his good hand pulled ineffectually at the hands stealing his life away in progressively stronger squeezes.

"You are going to die down here, detective." Alaric rasped. He coughed several times and his grip loosened…only to tighten again.

Danny could feel himself slipping away and no amount of _willing_ himself to stay was going to work this time. He had just enough awareness to know that he was not only sick and probably contagious, but that he was injured and unable to fight back.

 _Don't do this, Danny._ Steve's worried voice bounced around inside his head.

He didn't have a choice. Didn't Steve understand that? This isn't how he would have chosen to go out. That would have involved a rocking chair on a porch with a cold beer; surrounded by his grandchildren and maybe even Steve in the chair next to him. He'd always assumed that they would be friends till they each 'kicked the bucket'. The image his mind painted was beautiful. Granted, it was still Hawaii, but it was beautiful. The sound of the ocean in the background and children's laughter as they played football on the front lawn was a gentle reminder that Danny had chosen to stay on the Island.

Danny wasn't sure if he'd ever gotten married again, that didn't play into the fantasy his injured mind was creating. It called up images of holidays and birthdays. Grace graduating from medical, as it turned out, and getting married. The first time Danny had held his grandsons and his confusion at what to do with two of them. Twins didn't run in the Williams family. Steve had laughed at something his own granddaughter had said and Danny wondered when the ninja-seal had had time to have a family. The little girl couldn't be more than five, but she hung on her grandfather's every word as he spun stories of the great Five-0 task force.

It was everything that Danny had ever wanted. A family. His friends…a home.

A gunshot rang out and Danny figured that he'd finally been killed. There was so much pain and fire running through his body that he wasn't sure what was illness and what was injury. He ignored the bile that raced up his throat leaving a burning trail in its wake as he rolled over and cried out again when his arm smashed into the floor. The bone pressed back against the skin, igniting the nerve endings in agony. His anguished cry was music to Alaric's ears as he stared down at the detective.

The crack of concrete as the heat stressed the integrity of the supports echoed through the air. But the mafia man was too intent on this kill to pay attention. The entire place was trying to burn down around them and he didn't care. As long as he took Danny with him. He re-gripped Danny's throat and pressed him into the floor as he strangled the cop.

A second shot rang out and blood splattered over Danny's face and against the wall and Alaric dropped the detective back to the floor as his shoulder lit up in pain. He roared his anger at being denied his _prize_ as Danny dropped to the floor like a marionette that had had its' strings cut.

H50 H50

Moments before…

Steve ran into the warehouse without thinking about backup or anything beyond finding Danny. The fire was burning in pockets of heat and debris in every direction he looked.

"Danny!" He called into the rooms as he rushed forward.

His focus was so absolute that he completely missed a thug standing guard at one of the entrances, just inside the door. A shot zinged past his head. It was so close that Steve felt the wind of its passing. He ducked, tucking into a judo roll and immediately realized his mistake when the unseen man lashed out with a knife.

There was a slash of white-hot pain across his right shoulder, but Steve shoved that down as he spun back and kicked out with his right leg. There was a satisfying 'ooomph' as the man took the roundhouse right to the gut. He didn't fall down, but he was definitely winded by the sheer power of Steve's strike. What followed was a series of blows and blocks to avoid taking another knife or something worse. The smoke was getting thicker and he could've sworn that he heard Danny's name. Steve's breathing settled into a steady rhythm in order to keep from using too much oxygen in the black deficient atmosphere of the warehouse. He heard Chin call his name, but he couldn't see the other man as he struggled to take down the knife-wielding psychopath currently trying to kill him.

"I don't…" He slammed his palm into the man's throat. Part of him recognized that Danny would've found that funny. The fact that he'd actually _throat-punched_ a guy. There was a muffled pop and then strained gurgling as the man collapsed in a mess of limbs. "…have time for this!" Steve ground out between strikes. "Chin! Did you find Danny?!"

He broke into a stumbling run and moved toward the sound of the older man's voice. He ignored the dull thumping pain in his shoulder. "No. But there's a door here, it's jammed shut." Chin was pushing with everything he had when Steve broke past the corner and skidded to a halt. He could barely make out Chin as he studied the situation. The door was thick and metal. It was sitting on set of tracks that suggested it was also very heavy, but moved often.

Steve's eyebrows cut down in frustration. "You think Danny's down there?" His eyes were scanning the area at the same time, looking for their next assailant. A slight burn around the edges of his vision kept him apprised of the thick smoke in their immediate area. If Danny was hurt, he wouldn't last too long breathing this crap. And then there was the whole biological disease thing to consider. They needed to find the Jersey cop in the next hour or he may be too far for Max to help.

Steve dropped to his knees and slid his hands along the track looking for some kind of release. He was just getting ready to start pounding on the door with his shoulder when his fingers drifted across a latch. He looked up at Chin and flipped it open, causing the door to roll easily on the track. "Go." He whispered to Chin as they both pulled their weapons and started through the doorway.

The stairs were dark, but there was a light drifting past. Debris littered the stairs and there was definitely a fire burning somewhere ahead of them. It was hot. Steve wiped sweat from his brow as he moved cautiously along the wall of the stairwell. Chin was right behind him covering the other direction as they moved in sync toward the basement.

The fire was popping around them and in the distance Steve could hear sirens. Help was on its way. But Danny might not make it if they didn't find him soon. Steve heard it first. The low murmur of a man's voice. He glanced over his shoulder at Chin to confirm and saw a slight widening to his friend's eyes that told him everything they needed to know. _They were in the right place…finally._

Steve had never been good at waiting and as he stepped carefully around the last corner and saw Alaric bent over an unmoving Danny, he lost what little patience he did have. The man's fingers were wrapped around the blonde's throat and Danny wasn't moving, his eyes closed and his body sprawled like he'd been thrown to the ground. A _wheeze_ sounded through the air and Steve swallowed his fear and anger before leveling up on the man trying to kill his best friend.

He never identified himself or the fact that he was a cop. Alaric was too close to Danny to give him a chance at changing tactics and finishing the job he'd started with his hands. A quick pat on his shoulder told Steve that Chin had his back, whatever he decided to do here. Steve pulled the trigger.

A gurgled surprise was the only sound Alaric made as his eyes flashed up and he realized that he'd been beaten. His fingers released their death grip on the cop and he glared in rage at being denied his vengeance before toppling to the side.

There was a moment of complete panic inside Steve when Danny didn't so much as move. He sprang forward, tucking his pistol back into the holster on his thigh and dropped to the floor beside the mangle form of his partner. His fingers were shaking slightly as he reached out pressed two fingers against Danny's carotid artery. "Come on Danny." He whispered when his fingers didn't immediately find a pulse.

A small wheeze alerted Steve to Danny's status when his eyelids twitched and he finally felt the faint 'thump thump thump' of the smaller man's stubborn heart. It was such a Danny thing to do…so dramatic. "He's alive." Steve told Chin as they both ducked when a barrel exploded in a corner as the fire raged with increasing intensity.

"Steve, we have to get him out of here. None of us are going to be alive much longer if we don't." Chin knelt down on the other side of Danny, his own dark eyebrows folding down in concern.

"Okay, we don't know what his other injuries are. So we move him in as stable a position as we can." Steve said as he struggled to see through the smoke for anything that might work as a backboard. A long board that was about nine inches wide was leaning against a stack of shelves. Steve ran to it and with Chin's help they carefully moved Danny to the makeshift backboard. They were careful of the compound fracture to Danny's right arm and both cops ignored the myriad of bruising visible above Danny's dirty scrubs. A shiver ran through the detective, but he didn't move otherwise. Another explosion somewhere above them had both men hunkering down as they watched their exit collapse in on itself.

Chin looked frantically around them for an alternate exit, when he couldn't see through the smoke he coughed before asking. "What do we do now?"

Steve swallowed, ignoring the burning of his eyes, and looked down at Danny only to be rewarded by two confused and barely visible blue eyes. "Danny." He said softly. His only answer was a raspy wheeze as Danny struggled to breathe.

He had to find a way out of here or else not only would he have failed Danny…but Steve would be failing Chin as well.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Next chapter up for your reading pleasure. Thank you so much to all of you that took the time to read and review!_

 **Please Review: It's helpful to know that people are waiting for the next chapter.**

6


	12. The Walk-In

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Twelve**

 _The Walk-In_

Kono pressed harder on the gas pedal. This was the first time that she wished that she'd gone with the V-6 instead of the more gas efficient V-4. The Camaro had a V-8…she stopped that line of thinking. It was too painful. Thoughts of Danny and his beloved black car weren't going to help her save her teammates life.

Lou was stuffed into her passenger seat and he didn't look all that happy about his accommodations. It didn't help that the man was as tall as a tree. His shoulders were hunched inward and he was frowning. She skidded around a corner and slammed on the brakes at the sight that met them. The warehouse was engulfed in red and orange flames and they were burning sky high. "Oh my god." She said softly as she put the car in park and jumped from the vehicle. She didn't know what she was doing, but she needed to see the inferno without the glass between her and it.

Lou quickly followed, a look of equal concern on his face as he stared at the fire. Whirling lights of emergency vehicles threw light and shadows in every direction. There were fire engines everywhere and the crews were struggling to get the blaze under control. "Did they go in there?" She asked. It was almost to herself, but not quite.

The older cop simply nodded. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that both Chin and Steve would have raced in there. Especially if they thought there was the slightest chance of Danny being inside. "Yeah. They went in." He answered with simple honesty.

A choked sound from his right pulled his dark eyes over to Kono. She was hunched forward with the back of her hand to her mouth in silent denial. Lou let out a sigh and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sure they're okay." He lied. He didn't think they were okay. Hell, he didn't even know if they were still alive. But that wasn't something he was going to entertain. This team had taken him in when he was at his lowest point. They had welcomed him into their strange little Ohana and he needed to believe that they would be okay…even if it was a lie. He glanced up and then lifted his eyes to the heavens in a silent prayer. The fire was gaining intensity as it hit new accelerants inside the warehouse and it wasn't looking good.

Kono sniffed and then pulled away from the support of her friend. This wasn't going to help her cousin or Steve and _god help her_ , Danny. She shook her head and turned back toward the car.

"What're you looking for?" Grover questioned when she pulled the back door open and started rifling through some papers.

"The schematics for this place. I had Jerry send them over before we headed out. Maybe there's another way in…or out." She added hopefully.

It wasn't much to go on. But right now Lou would grasp onto anything that gave them an ounce of hope that their teammates might make it out of this tragedy alive.

H50 H50

Steve hunkered down and moved closer to Chin and Danny. "Hey, do you think there's a back way out?" His eyes were scanning the area. At least as much of it as he could see through both the smoke and the tears forming in his eyes. His fingers lingered on Danny's chest in an attempt to feel the shallow rise and fall of his partner's breathing.

Chin coughed and held his shirt over his nose. "God I hope so." There was a moment of silence between them.

Danny's good hand caught the edge of Steve's gloves and he pulled slightly. Steve's gaze shifted immediately down to the injured man below him. "Danny? Oh thank god. Just hang on." He was concerned by the rapid little pants of Danny's breathing and the way his eyes were barely open.

The detective coughed and his face pinched at the searing pain. Danny couldn't get the words out fast enough. He tried several more times before he gave up and opted for another tactic. He pulled Steve's hand in the direction of the freezer. Steve lifted his blurry gaze and finally _saw_ what his partner was pointing at. The thing was blown wide open, but it might give them some protection until help could knock the fire down. "Chin, we need to get Danny in there." The air was thick with rolling black smoke and the older cop just nodded before he moved toward Danny's feet. He nearly tripped over a small canister.

"B…bri…ing it." Danny managed to push past his ruined throat. His gaze was laser-focused on the small silver cylinder. Chin nodded and tucked it inside his jacket as he grabbed onto the board near Danny's feet. Steve quickly picked up the other end and the two men stayed close to the ground and they made their way to the walk-in freezer. Danny slipped back into the darkness and his arms dropped off the edge of the board. It was too reminiscent of a corpse and Steve felt the breath catch in his throat. The Jersey detective didn't even twitch as his broken arm slapped into Steve's thigh. And he knew that that had to hurt like hell.

"Shit…Danny." Steve muttered as they set him down inside the freezer. He gently picked up the obviously broken limb and gently laid it across Danny's chest. The heat was quickly becoming unbearable and Steve heaved in another breath. He turned back toward the door. "Help me with this."

Chin hurried over. He ignored the oppressive waves of heat as he grabbed the door and shoved along side Steve. "I think it's been warped." He ground out when the damn thing barely moved an inch.

Steve's eyes flashed back to the unmoving form of his partner. _It's not going to end this way, Danno…I'm not gonna let it._ He pushed harder, his legs strained and fiery agony worked its' way through the taunt muscles. The door slid just a bit before finally slipping more easily as he and Chin were able to seal it shut just as another explosion rocked the exterior of the freezer.

H50 H50

Kono was rocked back on her heels by the strength of another unexpected explosion. Debris flew through the air in several directions at once. Both Kono and Lou ducked down behind her car as a flaming piece of the structure landed where she'd been standing only seconds before. She felt her chest tighten at the prospect that she'd just lost not only half her team, but her cousin as well. Kono blinked slowly as the fire fighters doused the burning warehouse with copious amounts of water and foam. "Oh my God…" she breathed.

Lou was the first to stand up. He frowned at the scene before them and shook his head. "Don't count them out yet. If anyone can find a way to survive something like that, it's those three."

Her dark head tilted to the side. "Even if that's true. How do we get to them? The structure is falling in on itself." She scrambled to grab the plans she'd dropped when the warehouse fire had continued to spiral out of control.

Ignoring the burning heat in the immediate area, Kono spread the plans open on the pavement and started staring at the intersecting lines that represented possible entrances and exits. Lou leaned over her shoulder and finally huffed in irritation. "I can't make heads or tails of that." He admitted.

"Luckily I can read them perfectly." Max's eloquent voice interrupted to the two officers and they both looked up at the same time. The doctor was striding toward them in short staccato steps.

"Max? What're you doing here?" He started to answer and she held her hand up. "You know what? Don't answer that. Why am I not surprised that you know what all these squiggly lines mean." Kono said as she moved back, giving Max a better view.

"While I can't speak to that, I assume that it is because you do not know the extent of my education. I have studied architecture extensively in an attempt to understand—"

Kono threw her hands up to stop the upcoming rant. "Tell me later, Max. How do we get our guys out of there?"

Max's dark eyes lifted to the increasingly smaller fire. And he furrowed his forehead in consideration. "Are you sure they're still…alive?"

Lou cleared his throat and shot a disapproving look at the doctor. He completely missed the meaning of the reproof reflecting out of the captain's dark eyes. "Just tell us if there's anywhere they could have survived inside that place?"

Max leaned over and stared intently for several minutes. Kono was bouncing from right to left in anticipation and hope. After far too long in silence, Max looked up at the two task force members. "I believe that there is a place where they could have survived the continued explosions due to chemical accelerants." He pointed at a large square located behind several long things that appeared to be pipelines. "Here."

"What is that?" Kino asked, genuinely confused.

"A large storage are for frozen meat." Max said quickly.

Lou interpreted, "You mean a freezer?"

"Isn't that what I just said?"

H50 H50

It all happened so fast that Steve still wasn't sure exactly how it came to pass. He and Chin were trying to shield Danny and then the door was opening from the outside. Men in suits rushed in and then an oxygen mask was thrust over his and Chin's face. Steve tried to push it off in effort to make them put it on Danny first. But the rescuers were quick to get a mask on the injured cop before strapping him to a real backboard and quickly moving the small team from the burning room.

H50 H50

" _You won't open up, Danny. That's your problem." Steve said as he handed his friend a bottle of old cold beer. They were sitting near a dartboard in a beach front bar. Danny thinned his lips and huffed._

" _That is not why we broke up." He spat out before taking a drink of the fresh beer. "And what would you know about 'opening up'. You haven't told Catherine about the Champ box."_

 _Steve shrugged and grabbed a dart, throwing it with perfect accuracy at the center of the board. "I will." He threw a second dart it landed near the first. "When I know more about it."_

 _Danny rolled his eyes and set down his beer before he grabbed the other three darts and tossed them in rapid succession. They landed so close to Steve's dart that the thing fell out and landed with a 'clink' on the floor. "And you say 'I' won't open up?." He grumbled. Steve's gaze was still locked on the darts in shock._

" _Where the hell did you learn to do that?"_

" _What? Toss around a dart?" Danny's eyes narrowed and he shook his head, his hands flying through the air in emphasis. "Contrary to what you may believe, Steven. I too spent time in the bars with friends. Yes, it's true. I had friends before I met you. Although, none of them got me shot in the first twenty minutes. But hey…nobody's perfect."_

" _So seriously, Danny. What was the problem with this one?" Steve moved back to their table and sank down into the seat. Classic rock music was playing softly in the background and the open side of the bar faced out toward the ocean. The combination of music and nature was a bit intoxicating._

" _Can we talk about something else, please?" There was a brief pause where Danny thought that he'd convinced his friend to let it go. And then he saw the moment when Steve lost the battle between curiosity and decorum. Danny sighed and licked his lips. "She wasn't Rachel." He finally answered in a low voice._

 _Steve titled his head to the side and his forehead furrowed as Danny's' revelation sank in. He could see the pain that the admission had caused his partner and he felt bad about that. But Danny was subconsciously destroying his chances at something great with every woman he managed to date. "Danny…you can't keep comparing every woman to Rachel. They're never gonna be her."_

" _You think I don't know that?" He responded quickly. "Do you honestly think I haven't turned this over a hundred different ways? I just can't seem to let it go…to let 'her' go." He finished softly._

 _Danny turned his tortured blue gaze on Steve when he remained silent. There was something sitting just beneath the surface of his usually guarded friend and the cop found that he desperately wanted to know what Steve thought. He finally swallowed thickly, drained the last of his beer and wished that it was something a whole lot stronger._

 _After an uncomfortable length of silence, Steve finally figured out that Danny was done talking if he didn't say something. "Danny…the moment I met you I knew that you were a family man. Hell, that's part of the reason I wanted to work with you. The second you found out who I was…you offered your condolences for my father's death. You went with me to try and catch the man that had killed him—"_

" _It was my case." Danny offered quietly. He wasn't sure where Steve was going with this and he really wanted to know. It was rare that he got any sort of emotional connection with his partner._

 _Steve managed a smile and waived the waitress over with two glasses of whiskey. "That isn't why you helped me."_

 _Danny's blonde eyebrows shot up and he tilted his head to the side and leaned his elbows on the table. "It's not? Oh yeah? Do tell, ninja-seal. Why did I help you?"_

" _Because he was my father. And someone came into his home and shot him." Steve answered in a strained voice. There were emotions dancing behind his eyes that Danny had never seen and he suddenly didn't want to play this snarky game anymore. "You're a father and a family man, Danny…and that's what you're searching for and can't seem to find in these women you've been dating. That's why you never let any of them in."_

" _Your dad died, so I push women away? I think you might be reaching here." Danny scrubbed his hand through his blonde hair and tossed back the glass of whiskey. It burned the whole way down. He hoped that it would burn away the sense Steve was making._

 _Steve looked up and Danny was caught off guard at his own glassy reflection in the unshed tears of his friends generally guarded eyes. "Steve?" He let a small breath escape past his lips and he finally looked away._

" _I just think you need to accept that what you want is a family, not just a one night stand… or two nights…or three—"_

 _Danny punched him lightly in the arm. "That's enough. I get it. Lets go play some darts. Or shoot something. Anything that doesn't require emotions."_

 _Steve nodded and tossed back his own drink before immediately getting the waitress to bring them both another round._

 _That night they had proceeded to get good and drunk. Neither of them had spoken about the words exchanged, but they both remembered them. It had brought them closer._

H50 H50

The doctors were hovering over Steve as they forced an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. He kept trying to pull it off, but the need to breathe was overruling his need to jump off the gurney and run after Danny's disappearing form.

Chin was on a gurney next to him and the older man was suffering from the same problem, severe smoke inhalation and an inability to lie still.

An overhead alarm went off and an automated voice echoed through the hallways of the hospital. _"Code blue. All emergency personnel, there is a code blue in the ER. Code blue. All emergency personnel, there is a code blue in the ER."_ Steve heard the dreaded words and he yanked his head in the direction they'd taken Danny. All he saw was a sea of white doctor's coats and light blue scrubs running in that direction.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _New chapter…thank you all of you that read and reviewed. I appreciated the time you took. I hope you enjoy the newest chapter. More to come._

 **Please Review: Been a long week, could use the positive reinforcement.**


	13. Bubble Wrapped

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Thirteen**

 _Bubble Wrapped_

Max stared at the slide beneath the massive microscope. He'd been staring at it for the better part of an hour and he still wasn't sure why it should work. There was a single strand of the virus that was regenerating at an incredible rate…and it shouldn't be. He pulled in a deep breath and swallowed before stepping out into the hallway of the hospital. There had been some concern on his part as to whether or not the canister that Chin had brought with them had been something important. As it turns out...it was incredibly important. He reached up and pinched his nose beneath his glasses. It was an old habit, one formed from stress and worry.

It was appearing that that canister was going to save detective Williams's life. Inside that innocuous looking little container had been the solution to the continued deterioration of the detective's cells. The question now was whether or not they were in time to repair the damaged cells or if there would be any permanent damage. He hoped that there was not.

Max actually liked the snarky little detective from the continental U.S. Danny was a breath of reality on this little paradise of an Island. And he was the only one, other than with the addition of Lou, that hadn't been born and raised in Hawaii. The man brought an air of something very authentic and raw to the team he was a member of. That and the fact that he was commander McGarrett's best friend, which was no small thing. Oh sure, they argued and they bitched at each other, but Max had seen the two 'Alpha males' connect in a way that generally only happened with siblings. It was an interesting study into the male bonding styles of the twenty- first century.

With a small smile and a shake of his head, Max rushed from the room and hurried toward Steve and Chin's shared room on the third floor. Both of the cops had been angry at being separated from Danny by four floors, but ICU was on the seventh floor. Neither of the officers had been in dire enough circumstances to warrant a trip to that floor. Much to the relief of Kono and Lou. But Danny? He'd more than earned his trip up there.

H50 H50

Steve felt the slow pull of consciousness and he knew instantly that his damn doctor had drugged him. He hated the feeling of being out of control and whatever they'd given him, without his consent, had been meant to take away his ability to follow Danny. That made his insides twist in anger and resentment. His friend could well have died while he was rendered useless by the powerful drugs. He forced the resurgence of his mind and struggled upright despite the hands trying desperately to push him back into the bed.

"Steve. Stop. You've got to calm down." Kono was trying to be careful as she pressed against his chest as carefully as possible. "You're okay. Steve, you're okay. Danny's alive…please calm down."

At the mention of Danny, Steve's struggles quieted slightly and he forced his eyelids apart, revealing confused blue-green irises. He blinked several times in a slow sluggish manner and finally forced his disobedient pupils to focus on the worried expression of his teammate.

"Kono?" He forced past his raggedly painful throat. It hurt to talk and he wished it didn't feel like someone had shoved hot coals into his chest. He swallowed and his eyes closed briefly at the pain. He tried again. "Where's Danny? Is Danny okay?"

When she didn't immediately answer, Steve felt like a snake had starting twisting inside his gut. "Kono?" He asked with more emphasis.

She grimaced and then ran her fingers through her dark hair before sitting on the edge of his hospital bed. "We're spending way too much time in this place lately." She said in a soft voice. At Steve's insistent stare, she sighed and shook her head.

Steve's muddled brain immediately went to the worst case scenario and a sound that he hadn't heard since the shot that had killed his father worked its way out through his lips. It was a sound of anguish and loss. And if Kono never heard it again, it would be too soon.

She was quick to correct her boss's conclusion. "No. No, Steve. Danny's alive…he's just not out of the woods yet."

There was a moment when his gaze shifted to the door and he debated on making a run for it. He knew he wouldn't be running anywhere any time in the near future, so he turned back toward her and waited. "How bad?"

Kono pulled her lower lip between her teeth and glanced at the window next to Chin's bed. Her cousin was still asleep and she wished like hell that he wasn't. She could use the support. "We don't know yet. The doctors were able to stabilize his heart and get a trachea tube into Danny's swollen throat. That's why the alarms went off. He wasn't getting enough air and his heart couldn't pump the oxygen poor blood." _How bad was that? Did Danny have any lasting problems? What the hell, Kono!_

Steve's eyes widened at the severity of what she was saying. And none of this had anything to do with either Danny's injuries or the virus he'd been infected with. Guilt at not finding their friend before that sadistic bastard had been able to nearly choke the life out of the second in command poured through Steve in waves of despair. Danny was a good cop. He didn't deserve any of this and as his partner…Steve felt that he should have been able to stop it. He looked away from the concerned supportive expression on Kono's face. He didn't deserve it. "Anything else?" He whispered hoarsely.

"Not yet." She answered immediately. She could see Steve pulling further and further inside his self-made wall of solitude and it scared her. "Steve, this wasn't your fault. There's no way you could've known about any of this. Hell, even Danny didn't know about this guy. He's going to be okay."

He nodded, but didn't turn toward her again. She shook her head and patted his hand before getting up and heading out of the room to collect her own frayed emotions.

Steve was thrust back to the moment he'd seen Freddie sacrifice himself to save Steve's own life. He'd believed that there would never be another person like that in his life. Kinda like 'true love' you only get one. But when he'd met Danny, Steve had known that there was something special. He just hadn't realized _how_ special. Watching someone he cared about suffer wasn't something he thought he'd be face with after that. Because he'd been incredibly careful about letting anyone get that close again.

But the loud-mouthed, sarcastic and argumentative cop from Jersey had weaseled his way into Steve's inner circle. A circle made up a small group of people that no matter how hard Steve tried; he couldn't keep them out of his heart.

"Commander McGarrett?" Max's voice interrupted his introspection and Steve forced his gaze up where the doctor blocked his doorway. "I think I found out how to help detective Williams."

Steve's eyes widened and he struggled upright. The IV in his arm pinched painfully and he grimaced before hiding his expression. "He's going to be okay?" It was almost a whisper. But it reflected his hope and his fear in a single sentence.

Max swallowed and stepped into the room. "I believe so, yes. We were able to synthesize an antidote from the canister Lieutenant Chin brought out with you. We won't know of any other complications until he wakes up." He smiled. "It was lucky that he grabbed it, because without that biological base? I wouldn't have been able to counteract the virus's effects."

The injured man in the bed sat up straighter and blinked several times as his disjointed thoughts realigned themselves. "That was a cure?" He asked the question, but it was almost to himself.

Max simply nodded.

"Danny made me bring it." Chin said quietly from the other bed.

Steve and Max's gazes shifted to the other man in surprise. The older member of the Task force lifted himself into a seated position and blinked several times before speaking again. "Detective Williams told you to bring that?" Max asked.

Chin nodded.

"He must have known that it contained the cure." The doctor surmised. His eyes shifted between Chin and Steve several times before settling on the commander.

Steve shook his head. "No. I doubt he knew that. Danny's just a great cop. He doesn't like unsolved puzzles and he would have wanted to know what was inside the canister." His eyes drifted skyward and he slowly shook his head. Danny had saved his own life. He didn't know it yet. But between pointing Steve toward the walk-in freezer and then having Chin grab the cure…he'd saved not only his own life, but Steve and Chin's as well.

"I need to see him." Steve finally forced out. He reached up and pulled the IV out before Max could argue and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. There was a brief bout of dizziness as his equilibrium reset, but within seconds he was moving slowly down the hallway.

He thought he heard Chin say something from behind him, but he couldn't bring himself to listen.

Several nurses eyed him suspiciously as he moved at a broken walk through the long corridors of the hospital. The overwhelming smell of cleaners and antiseptic was making his stomach turn. Steve bit back the reaction and shoved one foot in front of the other despite his weakened condition. The elevator was at the end. He'd know that even if he were blind. Which definitely meant that Five-0 spent too much time in Tripler's hospital.

He was grateful when he noticed that Max hadn't tried to follow him. And as the silver doors of the elevator swished closed, Steve allowed his body to sag against the side as pain and exhaustion sapped his brief surge of energy.

H50 H50

 _Danny was standing on a precipice. He didn't know where he was or even 'when' he was. Time had lost all meaning as he watched the ocean break against the ragged shoreline. The sky was grey and there were streaks of deep amethyst breaking up the monotone color. It was a storm. It looked as though he was back in Jersey, but the shoreline was that of Hawaii and he found the juxtaposition of the two places somehow comforting._

 _Wind was whipping across the plateau. Just like it did right before a storm hit the shorelines. It pulled and picked roughly at his normally perfectly styled hair and Danny found that he couldn't bring himself to care. His blue eyes were searching the horizon…for what, he didn't know. He simply knew that he had to find it._

 _Something had happened recently and it was right on the edges of his memory, but he couldn't get a clear picture of it. Had he gotten hurt? Was Rachel hurt? Whatever it was the importance was not lost on the man as she searched the recesses of his mind._

 _His age felt indeterminate and his knowledge was full of holes and gaps. He was pretty sure he was a cop…and that he didn't live in New Jersey anymore._

" _Danny?" A low voice called to him from behind._

 _He turned slowly and the wind thrust his hair in front of his eyes. Danny reached up and shoved it away. "Steve?" He squinted in the low light. "What're you doing here?"_

 _Steve was dressed in the same stuffy uniform he'd worn when he'd arrived back in Hawaii. His white cap was tucked between his elbow and his side and he looked like he had somewhere very important to be. "You have to fight this, Danny." Steve said seriously. There was no humor in his usually mischievous eyes and he was staring intently at Danny._

" _Uh, fight what buddy?" He glanced around and realized that the wind was completely absent now. The sky had darkened and there were flashes of light blinking rapidly over the water. The lightning was striking the water with an intensity that made Danny cringe._

 _Steve lifted his hands and spread his arms wide, the military cap falling to the ground as if forgotten. "You can't stay here. Danny, Grace needs you. The team needs you…I need you."_

 _Somehow Danny knew that he had to be in dream. There was no way that Steven J. McGarrett would ever be this 'open' with him. Just trying to learn that man's birthday had been like pulling teeth. And all they had wanted to do was get him a cake and express their friendship in a normal way. But Steve had managed to ruin the surprise. He ruined 'every' surprise that the team had tried over the years. It was actually extremely annoying._

 _The dream shifted and Danny found himself once again in that cemetery. The one where Grace had been with her acceptance letter for the Newark Police Academy. But this time she wasn't alone. Steve was standing next to her. He was again in his Navy dress blues and staring at something below their feet. He had his around the shoulders of Danny's daughter._

" _I don't understand, Uncle Steve. Why're you leaving?" She looked up at him with her luminous brown eyes. A single tear made its way down her cheek and he reached up to gently wipe it away. "You promised Danno that you'd look after me." She finished in a tortured whisper. He looked at her in surprise._

" _Danny tell you that?" He asked softly. The lump in his throat caught the words and broke them up. He had to look away from the fathomless pain on the child's face._

 _Grace sniffed and reached up, dragging her arm across her face in a childish gesture that broke Steve's heart. "Yeah." She answered softly._

" _Gracie, it isn't the same here. I can't be a part of the task force without Danny." There was a pause as he searched for the perfect words to express how he felt. But how does a person describe 'indescribable' pain? Every time he walked into the Five-0 offices and saw Danny's dark office, he'd feel his stomach twist in painful regret. The guilt was killing him as surely as a bullet would. His father had died and now Steve had lost his best friend and the rock that he'd rebuilt his life around._

 _He hadn't known that at the time...that Danny had become his rock. But without Danny, none of this made any sense. He was better off back in the Navy serving with men he would try and keep at a safe distance. Steve didn't think he could do this again. He wouldn't survive it again. He'd even severed contact with Catherine. Not that he'd broken up with her or anything, but when she'd heard about Danny's death, she'd contacted him. He'd been so angry. Angry at the loss of his friend and angry that that was what it had taken to get her to contact him at all._

" _You were his best friend." Grace said in quiet voice as she stared at the grave. "He never said it, but he talked about you all the time." She looked up and Steve felt his resolve shatter at the sincerity in her eyes. "He loved you like he loved uncle Mattie." She finished brokenly and her voice hitched as the tears began to flow in earnest._

 _Steve dropped to his knees, headless of his uniform, and pulled the little girl into his arms. She was all he had left of Danny now and he would make sure that she was safe. "He loved you too, Grace. With all his heart." The two heartbroken individuals continued to kneel in the wet grass of the graveyard as Danny watched the soul-shattering scene unfold._

 _He didn't know how he was going to do it…but he was going to find his way back to Grace and Steve. Somehow…he was going to do it._

 _H50 H50_

Steve was leaning like a busted doll against the doorframe when he saw the _twitch_ to Danny's eyelids. He straightened up and moved closer to the plastic sheeting that surrounded the blonde man's hospital bed. He looked small against the white sheets and Steve found his eyes continually drawn to the multitude of machines that were keeping his friend alive in hopeful anticipation. Danny's face was a mass of bruising and there were burns and open sores littering his entire body. Some were from the virus and some were from the fire. There was a cast on his right arm and Steve winced at the evidence that once again, Danny had been 'broken'. Steve quietly slipped inside the ICU room and carefully pushed to door shut. He didn't want to be interrupted. He just wanted to be there when Danny finally opened his stubborn New Jersey eyes.

"Danny?" He croaked out and then winced at the ragged quality of his own voice. Another twitch and then a moan. "Don't struggle Danny. You've got a breathing tube in. Alaric almost killed you." He rasped out.

He'd expected Danny to ignore his warning and struggle anyways. But his partner surprised him and simply opened his eyes. The white around his intensely blue irises was a sickening shade of pink due to the petechial hemorrhaging. Alaric had come very close to killing Danny several times over. Choking him to death had been a last ditch effort to succeed in the detective's .

Danny blinked twice and his gaze finally focused on Steve. His eyebrows cut down in a question when he saw the broken way the commander was holding himself.

Steve shrugged. "It was a tough rescue." He said by way of response to Danny's unspoken question. The blue eyes flickered over to the plastic sheeting and then back to Steve. "Max reverse engineered a cure from the canister you found. It was the antidote, Danny."

The blonde looked over at the door. "Grace is at home with Rachel. She wanted to come, but she's not allowed on the ICU floor and Rachel didn't want to leave Charlie with a sitter again."

Danny's eyes narrowed in disapproval at the hospital's policy. There was a heat burning through him that he hoped was just the virus running its course and not something new.

"I'll see if I can get her in." Steve suggested quickly. He wasn't sure how much of this Danny was really going to remember. Nor was he sure if his partner even knew that he was safe…that Alaric had died in that fire. Kono had found the body and Max had done post mortem identification with dental records. Danny's only problem now was healing from the ordeal.

Danny blinked sluggishly and then his eyelids dropped shut without further warning and his head slipped to the side.

Steve sank down into the uncomfortable chair next to Danny's bubble wrapped bed and hunched forward when his own chest burned painfully. The other man's chest was barely rising and falling and Steve didn't trust the machines to watch over his partner like he could. So despite his own pain and discomfort, he settled in to wait for Danny to again regain consciousness. They had a lot to talk about.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Big thank you to everyone that read and reviewed the last chapter. Now we're on to the recovery…which won't be a completely smooth ride. Not only for Danny…but for Steve._

 **Please Review: I would appreciate it greatly.**


	14. Unexpected Complication

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Fourteen**

 _Unexpected Complication_

Hawaii was unusually dark. It was like there was a storm brewing in the distance that never quite made landfall. The rain drizzled in soft sheets of constant droplets. There was no breeze to move the rain, so it fell uninterrupted leaving puddles and tiny rivers seeking refuge in the vast waters of the ocean. The hospital was quiet upon fist glance. In fact it wasn't until one found themselves on the seventh floor that things really started to buzz with activity. Cops were strewn throughout the waiting area, their feet resting on whatever they could find. Empty Styrofoam coffee cups were piled high inside the garbage container and there were remnants of the meal they'd consumed scattered along the multitude of coffee tables.

Lou Grover was siting in a far corner, his arms folded and his head listing forward onto his chest. If someone didn't know better, they might assume that he was actually asleep. Which couldn't be further from the truth. Lou was frustrated with the lack of information he'd been able to glean about his teammate's condition. The doctor's weren't saying much more than they thought they'd caught the virus in time for Danny. And that Chin and Steve should make a full recovery with some down time.

H50 H50

Voices rumbled in the outside world and Danny found himself itching to burst into consciousness. The air was chilly, which was odd because he knew, subconsciously at least, that it should be warm. His inability to shove his heavy eyelids apart was starting to irritate him. He continued to take stock of his situation. There was an ache drifting through his arm and into his chest. Life is a very peculiar thing and for Danny Williams there didn't seem to be an end to the confusion. Flashes of memories were bouncing around, like baby kangaroos, inside his pounding skull. He really wished the damn things would stop long enough for him to grasp them.

The rummy pain that was rolling around inside his head was disconcerting and he wondered if it would get worse or better when he was finally able to force his eyelids apart. It was very strange…being able to hear what was happening around him and yet not being able to interact with that world. Snippets of conversations were wending their way through his mind and getting caught in a web between dreams and awareness. His senses warned him that he was most likely in a hospital. The aromatic bitterness of cleansers and antiseptic was difficult to mistake. There was a pinch of an IV and that was an all to familiar pain.

The sour smell of the hospital was assaulting his nose in a most unpleasant way...almost like his sense of smell was heightened. There was more than just pain in his arm, there was a stiffness that wasn't normal and he wondered what he'd managed to do to the damn thing now?

He finally forced his eyelids apart, at least he thought he did…but no light illuminated the room. And he remained in utter darkness. Danny tried to focus his instantly confused thoughts. Maybe he just wasn't ready to wake up yet? Was his mind playing tricks on him and he hadn't really escaped? Was he still locked in that freezer waiting to die? That thought sent spiny barbs of fear tripping through him and his breathing increased as he started to panic.

"Danny?" Steve's concerned voice was suddenly by his bedside. There was a strange combination be anxiousness and relief in his partner's voice that had Danny squirming inside his own skin. "Hey, hey buddy, come on…it's okay. Calm down. You're okay. We found you." It sounded as though it was coming through a filter or a barrier of some kind. "They removed the breathing tube. So it's going to be okay now…you're going to be okay, Danno." Danny couldn't tell if Steve was trying to convince him? Or himself...

 _Breathing tube? What're you talking about, Steve?_ Danny wondered as he again tried to see, he twisted his head toward the sound of his friend's voice. Still he remained in darkness and this time he couldn't stop the immediate and crippling fear that crashed over him. _Steven, am I blind?_

There was no answer from his partner and he wasn't even sure if he'd asked the question or just thought it. Danny was well and truly scared now and he started to thrash in the small bed.

"Danny! Stop." Steve's voice came through more insistently, but it wasn't enough to keep the detective from tearing the IV from his arm as he thrashed. The pain jolted through him and suddenly he found himself being held down against the uncomfortable hospital mattress. And the harder he struggled, the stronger these...hands pushed him down. They took away his ability to move and he panicked.

"Let me go! You son of a bitch." Danny cried out as he descended into confusion compounded by pain and fear. His teeth were grinding together and his unfocused eyes were whirling around the room searching for something familiar. The muscles on his neck were standing against his tanned skin and beads of sweat were rolling down his terrified face. "Turn the lights on you bastards!" He cried hoarsely. "Please!"

H50 H50

Steve watched as the nurses held his partner pinned to the bed, the white sheets tangling around his already abused body, and the growing wide-eyed fear that was reflecting clearly out of Danny's glassy and confused blue gaze. But that gaze wasn't focusing on anything…it was roaming around in a wholly terrifying way. Steve spun on the doctor as he raced into the room. The alarms attached to Danny blared in an angry wailing tone that was almost deafening. Steve's own lungs were burning in pain as his breathing increased with every second Danny struggled.

"What's wrong with him, doctor?" Steve questioned as his concern mounted in exponential ways. His own eyes were wide and fearful at what he was seeing. If he didn't know better, he'd think that Danny couldn't _see_. The man didn't immediately answer Steve; he went about trying to inject the thrashing and incoherent cop with some kind of sedative. Several burly nurses quickly shoved Steve from the room as they pushed inside in order to restrain the panicked detective. "Jesus…let him go. He's terrified! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Steve said. His own grasp of the situation was hazy at best. His head was spinning and he wanted desperately to help, but when his world started to spin he grabbed onto the wall in an effort to remain upright.

"Commander you need to leave." The doctor said as the door was pushed shut.

Steve leaned heavily against the plastic railing that ran the length of the wall. His own vision swimming in and out of focus as he listened to Danny on the other side of the door, he wanted nothing more in that moment that to stop the medical staff. But he was barely keeping his own two feet beneath him.

Danny's struggles were getting quieter and quieter as whatever drugs they'd given him took away his ability to fight. Steve forced his failing body to take two unsteady steps closer to the door and he pressed his forehead against the small glass window. He could barely make out Danny's struggling form as his own body failed him. Steve felt the burn of tears and a lump form in his throat at the chaotic look that was still resonating out his partner's unfocused eyes. Steve was so fixated on what was happening inside that room that he didn't notice Kono stepping up next to him. He jumped and his head spun when she placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder.

"Shit. Don't do that, Kono." He warned as his heart rate skyrocketed and his fingers clenched immediately into a solid fist. If this had been five years ago, he'd be apologizing for hitting her. It was only with the help of his friends that he'd been able to undo some of the knee-jerk reactions he had as a result of his advanced training. A lot of that had to do with Danny.

 _H50 H50_

 _Steve heard the movement behind him before he saw the figure. The person was moving though the dark office in a slow methodical manner that didn't fit with a police station. Steve's leg muscles bunched in anticipation and his fist clenched and unclenched as he flattened himself against the wall of the office in anticipation._

 _The soft footsteps were getting closer and he rolled his shoulders as he prepared to strike. There was a brief moment when he considered that this might be a 'friendly', but then his training took over and he thrust out his palm striking the person across the cheekbone and following up with an upper cut to the jaw._

 _There was a cry of pain and then the lights were flicked on. "Son of a bitch, Steve! What the hell are you trying to do? Break my nose?!" Danny swore as blood poured from his bleeding and slightly askew nose. His hands were holding his face in pain as he bent forward and squatted down, resting his elbows on his knees._

Realization struck. " _Shit! Danny, are you okay?" Steve asked as he hurried inside his office and grabbed his gym bag. He pulled the towel from the small bag and handed it to the royally pissed off blonde detective._

" _What?! No! I am most certainly_ _not_ _okay, Steven. You probably just broke my nose and our insurance isn't all that great." He shot back. It sounded like he was speaking through a nasal invertor and if Steve hadn't felt so bad, he would have laughed._

" _Danny, I'm so sorry. You surprised me, that's all."_

 _Danny's angry blue eyes lifted and pinned him in a stare. "And that's an excuse to punch out someone? They 'surprised' you? Jesus, Steve. You're not at war! This is a police station...in Hawaii! And_ _it's safe." He finished as he pulled himself to his feet. Danny's eyes dropped to his dark blue dress shirt and tie. Both of which were splattered with his blood. He groaned. "You're buying me a new shirt." He blinked and started to turn away before swinging back on McGarrett. "And a tie."_

 _Steve didn't know how to respond to that. He frowned and pulled in a breath as he worked to slow his rapidly beating heart. "You can keep the towel. By the way."_

 _That stopped Danny in his tracks and he suddenly swung back around on his partner like a man possessed. He started to pull the towel away from his nose, but the blood started to drip again and he immediately replaced the soaked white towel. "Where did this towel come from, Steven?" He asked it in a suspicious way that told Steve, Danny already knew 'exactly' where that particular 'towel' had come from._

 _He shrugged and pointed at the contents of his gym bag. They were scattered over the floor of his office. Danny rolled his eyes and groaned loudly. "Your fucking gym towel? You gave me your nasty, disgusting gym towel? God…Steve! I put that thing on my face?! I…can't…what…seriously! What the fuck?!" Danny ranted as he stomped out of the office in a huff._

 _Steve watched until he disappeared down the steps and then he quickly gathered his gear up and ran after Danny. Someone was going to have to drive him to the doctor…_

 _H50 H50_

Kono held up her hands. "Sorry." Her eyes flickered over to the small window. "What's happening in there?"

"Something's wrong with Danny." Steve managed around the lump in his throat. It was strange...here, they'd thought that they'd gotten to Danny just in time. But it didn't seem as though luck was on their side. In fact it didn't seem as though _anything_ was on their side.

Kono looked past Steve again and sighed. "Do they know what?"

Steve shook his head and a tremor ran through his body. His lungs were still burning and he felt as though he was breathing through a pillow. No matter how fast he inhaled, he never seemed to have enough oxygen. There was a whistling to his breathing that worried him, but he couldn't bring himself to focus on that. Not with Danny struggling on the other side of that closed door.

"Steve you can't keep doing this to yourself." She said softly. It hurt to see her friend suffering and Kono would do anything to bring him out of the debilitating spiral he was headed for. "What's happening to Danny isn't your fault." She swallowed her own guilt and leaned against the far wall. "Hell, it isn't anyone's fault."

"He trusted me to save him, Kono. And…" He thrust his hand at the door accusingly. "And…I couldn't…god dammit…look at that?! He's fucking blind." Steve couldn't stop the words before they spilled from his lips. He lifted his gaze back to the activity inside the room and gulped his emotions back into his gut. He could wallow in despair later, but right now he had to hold it together. At least until they knew what they were dealing with here…because _god forbid_ , if Danny was suffering from side effects…he'd need their support.

"He'd blind?" It was murmured in a quiet voice that was a far cry from her normally self-assured responses.

"I don't know…" Steve's voice was shell of his usually self-assured tone as he shook his head and scrubbed his hand down his face.

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Thank you for the reviews and the follows. Please continue letting me know what you think._

 **Please Review: They make my day…so please and thank you for the review.**


	15. United We Stand

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter fifteen**

 _United We Stand._

Steve was ready to punch the next orderly that told him to go lay back down in his room and they'd bring him any news on Danny. He had no intention of leaving his self-appointed post outside Danny's room. The last nurse had finally sighed and brought him a chair before they had to pick him up off the floor.

He wasn't the only one worried for their friend. Kono had settled into a very uncomfortable looking plastic chair to wait as well. They hadn't really spoken, just sat there in companionable silence watching the people as they came and went.

The constant train of medical personnel that were traipsing in and out of the Jersey detective's room was worrisome. And the guilt at knowing that there was still more wrong with the highly animated member of Five-0 was weighing heavily, not only on Steve's mind, but Kono's as well. There was a constant buzz of conversation, but Steve found that he was able to tune most of it out as he sat slumped in the wheelchair. Chin had plodded out to them a while ago, but when he'd started coughing uncontrollably, the nurses had demanded that he go back and lay down.

He'd tried to argue, but unlike Steve, Chin knew when to back down and eventually he'd seen the sense in what the medical professionals were telling him. After assuring himself that Kono would let him know if anything changed he had reluctantly followed Lou back to his room. Grover had taken it upon himself to keep an eye on Chin while the other two watched Danny. It made sense, since the detective seemed to be the one the universe was trying to take out.

Steve leaned against his upright fist, staring at wall, before pulling in a shallow breath. He couldn't seem to get the vacant look that had been in Danny's, normally vivid blue, eyes out of his mind. Every time he closed he let his eyelids fall shut, he saw that glassy, out of focus stare and it was eating him up. What did this new and extremely unwelcome development mean?

He must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing he remembered was Kono gently prodding him awake.

She managed a small smile and tilted her head toward the room. "They say Danny's awake."

Steve nodded without speaking and started to get up. He couldn't hide the grimace of pain as his lungs pulsed inside his chest and he fought down the urge to cough. He must have let enough of his discomfort shine through because Kono was immediately at his side.

"Just stay in the chair, I've got you." Kono said easily as she pushed him into Danny's darkened room.

Steve let his eyelids drop and simply _listened_ to the room. He heard the steady beeps of the machine that told him Danny was indeed alive. There was a slight _whooshing_ sound from the oxygen tank that was pumping off in the corner. A high-pitched whine was coming from somewhere, but he couldn't identify it and Steve finally opened his eyes and stared at his best friend. Danny looked had the appearance of a lost soul. His hands were folding in his lap and he was trying to work out what was happening around him.

The blonde was indeed awake and extremely confused. He was rolling his muddled blue gaze back and forth as he searched for the missing light. His face was a colorful array of rainbow hued bruising. Some had started to heal and had that sickly yellowish green tinge and others were still an angry dark purple and appeared to be quite painful. If the way Danny winced every now and then was anything to go by.

His arm had been re-casted and there were several white bandages placed strategically around his body where open sores were located. The illness had done more than simply mess with just his internal systems; it had started to break down the epidermal layer and had caused water retention between layers of skin. In short? Danny Williams was a complete and utter mess. But he was alive…so the rest they would just have to figure out as they went.

And Steve had every intention of figuring this out. Danny wouldn't be facing this challenge alone. The guilt still clouded Steve's heart as he stared, but he wasn't making the same mistake twice. He'd left Danny alone once before and it had nearly cost the snarky little man his life…no, he was definitely not making that mistake again.

H50 H50

It's a strange thing to lose one of the five senses. The other four go into overdrive and suddenly it's like having an Olympic team. Hearing is phenomenal and able to pick up, what Danny was sure was, sub-sonic sounds. His sense of touch was out of control lately. All he wanted was to lay his questing fingers on everything as that gave him an idea was happening around him. The sheets felt scratchier and even his own clothes felt different, like he was feeling them for the first time.

When the nurse had brought in his lunch, and he'd forced a few bites down his swollen throat he was alarmed to find out that it tasted terrible. The bread was soggy, his meat was over cooked, and even the measly dessert was bland and tasteless. He'd always quite like hospital food before this. _Not anymore._ He thought silently.

The doctor had been talking and Danny found that he had to force himself to pay attention. His thoughts and attention kept wandering in other directions. He hurt. But he didn't want to say anything, god forbid these _medical professionals_ give him any more drugs. He was so tired of floating in limbo where he might find himself inside that lava tube again. The return of those memories had been unpleasant and with them had come the inescapable nightmares…and the drugs left his susceptible to them. His head was feeling like there was a lumberjack inside his head trying to split it open with a maul and the pressure was indescribable.

He'd also gathered enough information to know that Steve was also hurt. Which meant that his lame-ass best friend and resident _super-_ seal must have done something stupid while trying to save Danny. He'd have to have; otherwise the Jersey man knew that his partner would be there in the room with him. _And God help the person that tries to kick him out. But if he's hurt…how bad?_ Danny was trying desperately to keep the panic from overtaking him, but he was pretty sure he was failing miserably. There was a slight shaking to his fingers when he shifted them and he carefully placed them under the covers to hide that from the people in the room.

"So at the moment, I'm afraid that the optical nerve is reacting negatively to the antidote. We think that this happened because of your prolong exposure to the virus itself." The doctor's voice finally cut through his wandering thoughts and Danny forced himself to try and puzzle out what the man was _really_ saying.

"Is it permanent?" Danny asked slowly. His gaze landed too far from its mark as he looked in the _general direction_ of the doctor's voice, though not directly at him. The detective wasn't sure how he would deal with this if it were permanent. He couldn't be a cop if he was blind. _Hell, I can't be anything if I'm blind._ He thought bitterly. While deep down he knew that wasn't exactly true, it felt that way. It felt like he'd been cheated and now he was being forced to deal with the fallout.

Danny loved to watch the spectacular sunrises here on the Island and the panoramic views of the lush green mountains as fluffy white clouds wrapped around them in lazy puffy blankets of white. He loved watching Grace at cheerleading practice. Her brilliant smile when she accomplished something she hadn't thought she could do. He simply couldn't imagine what his life would be like without his sight…and frankly, he didn't want to. His heart plummeted at the mere idea that this might be permanent.

Hadn't he been through enough? Hadn't he paid dearly for any transgressions, perceived or otherwise? He'd nearly lost his own life and that of his best friend. Almost been the carrier of a deadly plague like virus that could've wiped out Hawaii and possibly much much more. Life had been anything but fair recently and he was starting to feel a bit picked on by the universe.

"I need to do some additional tests, detective. We'll check the responses of the optic nerve and determine a course of action. It could be a simple side effect that will work itself out with time." The doctor answered quickly.

"A _simple side_ effect?" Danny choked out hoarsely. "Are you kidding? It could be permanent." He continued without thinking.

Steve's voice interrupted. He hadn't realized that Steve was in the room and Danny cringed at the anger in his partner's words. "Then get the tests done."

Danny could hear the frustration and the anger that wasn't even remotely hidden in Steve's biting threat. "Commander, we are doing everything we can. Detective Williams has suffered more than just a virus run amuck. His body has been worn down and it isn't responding as it would if his health were one hundred percent. The largest organ in the body, his skin, has taken huge amount of damage that will take vast amounts of time and energy to heal. And frankly right now, he simply isn't healthy enough."

Danny could feel the anger rising inside him. He didn't like being talked about when he _wasn't_ in the room; let alone when he was sitting, probably, less than four feet away. "Hey. This is happening to _me_. Can I please be included in the conversation? Or is that asking too much?" His tone was acidic and there was a resignation there that worried Steve.

There was a collective intake of air as several people realized their mistake at the same time. "Danny…I'm sorry." Steve responded from somewhere near his feet. "I didn't mean to make you feel…I'm sorry."

Danny nodded. But he was different. Steve could see him pulling into himself the same way Steve had done after the accident with the Camaro. Danny wasn't reaching out to help he was pulling away from those around him. He didn't articulate with his hands, they rested quietly in his lap and that was a conscious choice. Steve noticed and Danny had no idea.

"I'm tired. Can we talk about this later?" The blonde asked as he laid back against the flat pillows and turned away from the direction he'd heard their voices coming from.

"Of course detective Williams." The doctor said before Danny heard him usher an irritated Steve from the room.

He didn't know how long he slept, but when he awoke he could feel that he was _alone_ in his room. The larger than life presence of his team simply wasn't there and it was noticeable. Danny didn't bother opening his eyes, he simply readjusted himself and continued to listen.

"What are we going to do if this doesn't correct itself?" Steve's voice floated easily to Danny's sensitive ears and he cringed at the directness of the question.

The second voice was the Governor's. "Well, he can't exactly be a member of an elite task force if he'd blind, now can he."

It was harsh and nothing Danny hadn't expected, still it hurt to know that he'd be ousted from the team faster than Steve had recruited him. He didn't want to hear any more and Danny turned away from the conversation and shut them out as he allowed his mind to simply wander away.

H50 H50

Steve stared at the man with an angry twist to his face that set the Governor back on his heels. He couldn't believe that this man had been so callous about Danny's future with the team. There was no way in hell that he was going to allow Denning to throw Danny to the curb.

"What the hell are you saying?" He ground past gritted teeth.

The man held up his hands in surrender. "I'm not _saying_ anything. I'm simply stating a fact here, commander. A blind member of an elite team won't be much good now will he?"

"I'm not letting Danny go. I don't care what those doctors say. He shouldn't be punished because he was taken by some psychotic asshole. Is that the kind of legacy or message you want to send to the men and women that serve under you? If you get hurt or God forbid someone tortures the shit outta you, deal with it on your own. Oh and if you think your _job_ will be waiting when you finish, think again." Steve bit out angrily. He was losing some of his steam as he stared up at the Governor, but he was sure as hell trying.

"Be careful, commander. You still work for me, not the other way around." The man said steadily. It wasn't really a threat, simply a reminded of the hierarchy of their arrangement. One in which Denning was at the top.

"If you're going to make me lose Danny, then I don't want anything to do with the task force." Steve said after a moment. His eyes slid over to the slightly ajar door and the dark room where Danny slept. "I can't do this without him."

"Neither can we." Chin said softly.

Steve's gaze flashed up and he smiled when he saw Chin, Kono, and Lou standing less than ten feet from them. He allowed his blue-green gaze to return to the elected official. "I put this team together with these specific people for a reason, Governor. Five-0 doesn't work without any one of them. So if you're going to push the Danny thing, then I guess you better find a new team."

The other three simply nodded and stood in solidarity while the man they worked for spluttered in irritated anger. He rarely went head to head with Five-0 and he wasn't pleased with the insolent attitude now. But he also knew that the team had had a very positive effect on crime on the Island…and he wasn't willing to lose those gains. He finally nodded and turned toward Danny's room.

"Fine. Send me the bills. I'll have my office take care of them." It was as close to an apology that Steve had ever heard.

"Thank you, sir." He managed after a moment.

The Governor waived him off and started to the elevator. "Let me know if there are any changes."

Kono answered this time. "We will. Thank you."

TBC…

 **Author's Note:** _Healing to do and explanations to be made…more to come. Thank you for the reviews and encouragement. As always, you guys are amazing._

 **Please Review: Just a few more before the end of the year…please?**


	16. Shadow Images

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Sixteen**

 _Shadow Images_

Two weeks, it had been two weeks since Danny had been cleared by the hospital of the virus and he still couldn't see. He was trying to find the silver lining here, he really was. But that damned lining seemed to be completely absent…much like his eyesight. He hadn't had a lot of time to feel sorry for himself, since no one really left him alone for long. Probably because when they had, he'd dropped into a depression that had taken two days to sorta pull him out of. He could almost hear Steve's frustration when the man breathed, it had been so clear. And it hadn't exactly been _smooth sailing_ after that episode.

There had been moments of terror when the virus looked to have mutated. But that had turned out to be false and the virus had been susceptible to penicillin. He wasn't eating like he should. So he'd lost weight that he hadn't had to lose in the first place. Now, even he knew that, he had to be looking more than slightly unhealthy. But his stomach was constantly twisting and flipping around, making it impossible to keep anything down. Then there were the sores from the dermal attack of the virus.

The wounds had started to heal…at least on the outside. But on the inside…Danny was struggling. He couldn't seem to put this whole thing into perspective. He'd nearly lost his best friend, his life, and been the instrument of destruction for a madman bent on revenge. He understood that it wasn't his fault, but he felt responsible regardless of that knowledge. He knew that he shouldn't be pulling into himself, but Danny couldn't seem to help it. The longer he dealt with the increasing downward spiral of his life, the worse his depression got. No amount of 'pep talks' had been able to pull him from his self-imposed solitude.

And god had they tried. Kono had talked until Danny had finally fallen asleep. He felt bad about that. She was trying to help…they all were. But how could he explain something that he didn't really understand himself? Chin had talked about Gracie and her recent cheerleading competition. Danny was supposed to be there, but he hadn't been released by the doctors yet. According to Chin, Grace was the most pivotal part of the team. The detective appreciated the update and his friend's effort to reconnect Danny with his life. Even the stoic Lou had been by. He'd told an old story about a case that had nearly ruined his career.

Danny had been a bit surprised when he opened up like that. They didn't know a lot about the Chicago cop's time before coming to the island. He'd listened and then told Lou that he was glad he'd come to visit. But the story hadn't done what the captain had wanted; it hadn't galvanized Danny. He was still blind and he was still frustrated and angry.

The doctor's had tried to get him to talk to them. Hell the psychiatrist at the hospital had a standing appointment with him daily, but the detective couldn't give them what they wanted. Because what they all wanted was a man that wasn't affected by the events of the last year. A man that was able to simply move forward and not mourn the loss of his sight. There had been some improvement; he was at least able to make out light and dark, but nothing discernable in the shapes.

He reached for the desk that he knew was sitting against the window. Danny had been very careful to keep his clothes in the same places, so he could at least dress himself without help.

For about the millionth time, Danny rammed his shin into the end of the bed. "Son of a bitch." He groaned as he reached down and rubbed at the offending bruise. His right arm was still in a cast and his body still hurt, but nothing like it had been. If his damn eyes would improve he could almost believe that he had a shot at coming back from this…almost.

"Danny? You okay?" Steve's voice floated down the hallway and Danny knew that he'd been _listening_ to see when his partner would get moving. It was the same thing he'd done every day since Danny had been released into his care. Every morning he'd attempt to get himself ready and every morning Steve would hear when he failed. It was slicing away at Danny's independence in a way that nothing else could.

"I'm fine, Steven." He growled. He heard the softly mumbled response and the receding footsteps of his friend as he went back to his room. "Dammit!" Danny hissed. He didn't mean to keep hurting everyone, but that was exactly what he was doing. He reached out and felt for the bed before sinking onto it. Before this whole _blind thing_ he'd been quite familiar with the room's orientation, so he knew that he was staring out the window. The light was brighter this way too, so that helped.

He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees before dropping his head forward. The sound of the ocean drifting gently through the window was anything but calming; they reminded him of the lava tube and his time inside the oppressive hole. And with those thoughts came chest tightening panic and fear for himself and his partner. A bead of sweat rolled off his forehead and landed on his clasped hands, startling him back to reality.

Danny's heart was racing and his head was pounding as the visceral memories faded into the background once again. He sat up and swiped his hand down his face. His lip curled in disgust at the clammy feeling of his skin. He hated this, he really did. But he didn't seem able to stop his mind's ability to bring up the past.

"Hey'ya, Danny?" Steve's voice was quiet and calm. Almost like he was afraid that Danny would bolt the second he got the chance. _Not that I can go anywhere without help._ He thought in defeat.

"Ya, Steve?" He decided to give his friend a break.

There was a moment where Steve didn't answer and Danny wondered if he'd walked away. "Steve?"

A sigh… "I'm still here. Sight isn't any better today?"

He could tell that his answer had deflated his hopeful partner and Danny felt another tinge of frustration. He took a deep breath. "Not really." He shrugged. "Just light and dark…some shadows. Nothing new."

"Oh…" Steve answered softly. Danny felt the bed shift and he knew that his partner had sat down next to him. Have you talked Grace today?"

Danny inhaled slowly and pulled his lip between his teeth. "No. I think my phone rang earlier, but I couldn't find it…so…" He shrugged.

"Why didn't you say something, I would have helped you." Steve asked. There was an edge to his words that grated on Danny's frayed nerves. He couldn't stop the outburst.

"I don't want help, Steve! That's the whole point. I want my life back. I want my sight back! I can't live like this, depending on everyone else to…" He struggled for the words and finally landed on… "…find my freaking phone! Help me locate my shoes." He scrubbed his hand through his hair and wondered just how messy it was. Danny was pretty sure that his hair was a complete mess, he hadn't been able to properly style it for…he had no idea how long it had been. "Jesus…comb my fucking hair. I can't be…this!" His hands swept outward indicating himself.

"Danny, I didn't mean…okay look, I've had about enough of the pity party you've been throwing yourself since you got out of the hospital. You are alive and given time, you may be fine. But if that doesn't happen."

Danny started to interrupt. "No. Let me finish. If for some god awful reason, you're eyesight doesn't get better? You'll still be alive. You'll still have an amazing daughter that loves you no matter what. You will even still have a team." Steve laid his hand on his partner's shoulder. "But most of all, Danny? You will still have a job…and me."

The blonde's head shot up and he turned toward the sound of Steve's voice. "What?"

"Did you think that I was gonna just let you leave?" There was a hint of something in Steve's voice that Danny couldn't quite place. He started to say something, but he was cut off by Steve's angry response as he continued. "No really, Danny. What was it you were thinking? That Kono, Chin, Lou, and I were just going to let you what? Walk away from us? Walk away from the team we've spent the last five years building?" The anger was bubbling over and Danny was taken off guard by the strength of his friend's reaction.

"I. Can't. Be. A. Cop." He stated as his own fury rose to the surface. Each word was bit off and he surged to his feet, turning toward, where he suspected, Steve was sitting. "What the hell am I gonna do, Steven?! Talk the bad guys to death?"

"Well it wouldn't be the first time." Steve shot back without thinking. He was so angry that he was seeing red around the edges of his vision.

"Screw you, Steve." Danny said as he stomped forward and to the left, three paces, or else he'd fall over a chest that Steve had at the end of the bed.

Steve jumped up and grabbed Danny's arm, pulling him off balance. It happened so fast that he couldn't stop it, the blonde's balance shifted too quickly for him to correct it. It was like watching something in slow motion. He knew it was going to happen, but he wasn't fast enough to stop it.

Danny toppled over, his head smashing into the edge of the chest. There was a sharp blinding pain and then nothing as he sank into the blackness.

"Danny?!" Steve cried as he flung himself to his knees next to his friend. "Come on, Danny. Talk to me, buddy." His fingers were shaking as he pressed them against the artery in his partner's neck. There was a solid thump, thump, thump that did little to make the military man feel better.

He couldn't tell the angle that Danny had hit the edge of that damn chest. But there were rapidly developing bruises right at his temple and a trail of blood that concerned Steve. He carefully repositioned Danny's head and winced when he saw that Danny had tried to catch himself with his casted arm. It didn't appear damaged, but it was going to hurt like hell when he woke up. He only thought about it for a moment before he jumped up and ran for his cell phone.

H50 H50

An ice pick was trying to ram itself through his brain. There was a distinct smell of old wet wood and fresh sea spray. The two aromas were warring with one another and he wanted to just sink back into the darkness. But the ice pick was keeping him firmly grounded in reality. "Mmm…" He mumbled as he started to push himself to his hands and knees.

A shooting pain lit up his right arm and he tumbled back to the floor. A wooden floor…and not his wooden floor. He forced his eyelids apart and waited for the room to stop spinning. He thought he heard a voice in the other room, but he couldn't be sure. There was a rushing inside his head that was now battling for the pick's place inside his skull. Danny took another shot and forced his eyes open. The bright light hurt and he blinked several times before the shadows took on some shape.

Steve burst back into the room, he swallowed hard when he saw Danny moving slowly to his knees.

"Hang on, Danny. I got ya." He hooked his arms under Danny and carefully lifted him into a seated position. "I called an ambulance." He looked closely at his partner. "Are you okay?"

Danny swallowed and let his eyelids fall shut. He wanted to nod, but the splitting headache kept his head from moving even an inch. "Uh…I think so."

"Was that a question?" Steve wanted to know when he couldn't read between the 'Danny Williams' lines. The blonde had yet to open his eyes and the blood was slowly drying on the side of his head.

"No?" Danny answered without thinking. He turned toward Steve and let his eyelids slip apart. There in front of him was a blurry version of his ninja-seal partner. But for the first time in weeks, Danny could actually make out the concerned expression on Steve's face. He leaned closer and then groaned in pain.

"The ambulance should only be a few more minutes—"

"—Steven?" He leaned closer and ground his teeth together when his head throbbed.

"I swear, those bastards are gonna hear from the mayor's office about their response times. I mean I know that I live—"

"—Steve?!" Danny said again.

Steve stopped his rambling and lifted wary eyes toward Danny's. It was at that moment that he realized that his partner was looking _directly_ at him. Like he could _see_ Steven, not just hear him. "Danny, can you see me?"

The detective's head bobbed up and down. And then he cringed in pain when his head screamed in protest. "Yes." He croaked out.

"How?" Steve asked as siren's blared in the distance.

"Please don't make me move my head again." Danny begged.

"Okay…uh…we should still get you checked out by a doctor." Steve continued, as there was a knock on his front door. "I gotta go let them in."

"Please just drive me, Steve. I think I've ridden in enough ambulances to last a lifetime."

Steve shook his head. "Does this mean we're okay? I mean, I thought we were fighting."

Danny groaned again. "That was before I tried to split my head open on your father's chest." He started to rise when the knocking on the door became more of a banging. "They're going to break down your door, Steven."

"I want to talk about our argument, but uh…let's get you checked out first."

He helped Danny to his feet. The room spun and the blonde sagged against him as his stomach flipped. "Can we argue about the _argument_ later?"

"Can you still see?" Steve asked as they made their way down the hall and toward the stairs. More banging. "It's open!" He called loudly. Danny winced next to him. "Sorry." He said more softly.

They shifted slowly through the hall and he stepped down, helping Danny to make the transition to the steps. "I can." He said quietly.

Steve stopped and looked at him. "Can what?" The paramedics were setting up in his living room. Danny blinked and tried to ignore the pulsating thrum inside his head.

"I can still see."

TBC…

 **Author's note:** _Sorry for the delay in the next chapter. It's been busy. But here's the next chapter, I hope it assuages the frustration with time between chapters._

 _ **Please Review: Just takes a moment and it helps me write. Thank you.**_


	17. Boundaries

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Seventeen**

 _Boundaries_

Chin typed in the last of his long over due report and then leaned back in his chair. He sighed when a twinge in his back had him twisting to the left and then the right in an effort to alleviate the ache. The sun had set hours ago and he was pretty sure it was pretty close to rising soon. He dragged his hand down his face and blinked tiredly as he shook his head, considering his reality.

The last year and half had been more than a little trying and he was tired. So very tired…Chin had watched his friends suffer and recover and then suffer again. He'd been there for all of it; Danny's fight with Steve had been the start of it all. He'd been terrified that when he'd repelled down to the Camaro that Danny had been dead. A lot of things had happened over Chin's time as a cop, but he'd never been as scared as he had been in that moment. Miraculously, the detective had survived the horrific accident. But that hadn't been enough for the blonde transplant to Hawaii, immediately following the accident and recovery had been another attempt on Danny's life. This time it had been more direct. And the distance that had grown between the team members had been vast.

The fights between Danny and Steve had increased and then the blonde had been taken and dropped down a lava tube. And then the bastards had taken Steve and the whole thing had spiraled out of control…along with that damn hurricane. It had been mere chance that they had found Steve or Danny. Coming that close to losing two of the most important people in Chin's life had left a deep mark on him.

He and Kono had done their best to keep Five-0 together as the heart and the brain of their team fought and drifted further apart in a way that wasn't good for anyone.

Chin swallowed and finally inhaled slowly before quietly standing up and clicking the light of his desk lamp off. He wasn't going to get any sleep here…and tomorrow was another day.

He was almost out the door when he remembered that he hadn't grabbed his phone. There was a fraction of a second when he debated on leaving the damn thing in his office, but with Danny suffering at the moment? Five-0 needed all hands on deck and he wasn't going to be the one that sank their ship. By the time he made it back to the office he was jogging in an attempt to answer the now ringing device.

Steve's face popped up on the called ID. "Steve? Is everything okay? Did something happen with Danny?" A pang of concern wrapped its way through his chest and settled heavily in his heart. _How much more can we take?_ He wondered silently, without meaning to.

"Chin, can you meet me at the hospital?" Steve's voice was like ice water screaming down his back. He stiffened for a second before he was moving.

He didn't wait for an explanation and then he was running through the slowly building light in halls of the palace. "I'm on my way." He bit out and increased to full out sprint toward his car.

H50 H50

Kono slammed on the brakes and slid into the only parking space still available directly in front of the hospital. She jumped from the car and raced toward the sliding glass doors, just inside she could see Chin talking to the receptionist.

"Cousin, what the hell is going on?" She blurted out as she slid to a stop next to him, her breaths coming in short shallow pants as she struggled to catch her breath. It had less to do with running the short distance from her car and more to do with her intensely worried state. Danny had suffered so much, what else could have gone wrong. Had the virus come back? Were they going to have to watch him struggle through yet another undeserved and cruel twist of fate?

Chin turned and forced a smile. "I don't know."

"Guys?" Steve's guarded voice pulled their eyes in his direction. But the smile on his lips allowed both the natives to relax slightly. If something were truly wrong with Danny he wouldn't be smiling at them. In fact, Steve wouldn't even be in the lobby, he'd be haranguing the staff to fix their Jersey detective.

"Danny?" Chin asked quietly. He didn't dare let the _hope_ seep into his voice.

Steve's smile broke into a wide mouthed grin. "He can see."

H50 H50

 _Three Days Later…_

Steve watched as Danny sat quietly with Grace. The sun was just starting to rise and the gentle rays of golden light were beginning to extend in long graceful lines toward the peaceful beach. The rolling sound of the waves lapping along the glistening sand was a testament to how quiet this particular morning was. The green lawn chair was tipped back and Steve found himself relaxed for the first time in a long time.

Grace laughed at something her father had told her and the military commander couldn't stop the smile that pulled at the edges of his lips. It had been too long since he'd heard that child's laughter and he'd missed it. Hell, Steve had missed everything about the Williams family. The way Grace would side with Steve just to get her father going. The way they would argue about the most inconsequential things, especially if it were something that would bother the leader of the Five-0 team.

He was pretty sure it was Danny driving those arguments. Mostly because his partner liked to argue. It didn't' matter if he actually _agreed_ with Steve, the Jersey native wanted to debate the issue…any issue. Good lord, they could be talking about the proper way to chew gum and it would become some sort of _debate_. The truth was, he and Danny so different that they shouldn't work as partners…or even friends. When they'd met neither one of them had any intentions of remaining partners, at least not past that first case. And yet when Steve had seen the devotion with which Danny approached his work as a detective, he'd known that this man would be his partner. Not even Danny would be able to talk his way out of that.

But as Steve watched the shorter man with his daughter, he knew that there was nothing that he wouldn't do for the blonde. It would never matter how many times they fought or how often they were at odds on the approach to a particular case. If Danny needed him? He would move heaven and earth to be there for him and Steve knew that Danny felt the same. His partner would never admit that openly, but he'd proven it time and again, travelling to Afghanistan and North Korea were just the big ones.

The same feelings of devotion and family were there when it came to Mary, but with Danny? Steve knew that there was a strong likelihood that they would find themselves in another impossible situation in the future, that wasn't likely to happen with his little sister, and this _situation_ probably wasn't in the distant future either. The types of people that the elite Five-0 team dealt with were the worst of the worst.

He had the same bond with Chin, Kono, and Lou. But with Danny Williams…it was somehow… _deeper_ , more profound.

"Hey space case! I said are you hungry?" Grace's innocent voice cut through his wandering thoughts and pulled Steve back to the beach.

The little girl was literally bouncing up and down as she grinned at her father's partner. "Dad says we can go out to breakfast if you're game?" The hope in her voice would have made Steve _game_ , as she put it. Even if he'd been against the idea, which he wasn't, he would have agreed. The fact that Danny was mentioning food at all was a very good thing.

The man had lost far too much weight in the last months. While the virus had been stopped, it had done some serious damage to Danny's body. His stomach was constantly rebelling against just about everything he tried to get down. The doctors had chalked it up to the damage to his olfactory senses. Most people didn't realize how much of the desire to eat comes from the smell and the taste of food in general. Without the ability to do either with any degree of confidence in _what_ it would taste like…Danny had gotten to the point that he was unwilling to try. He'd told Steve that food tasted awful, therefore killing his desire to eat anything.

Steve was reminded of the Harry Potter movies, the freaky tasting _jellybeans_? He couldn't remember what they were called, something something every flavor…something. He made a mental not to ask Grace about it later. And maybe see if she wanted to watch one of those wizarding movies.

Plus there had been the small fact that the detective wasn't able to keep much down. But that didn't seem to be due to the unreliability of his taste buds, but the constantly nauseated feeling in his stomach.

So any chance to get the smaller man something in his body was a welcome change in Steve's opinion.

H50 H50

Danny stared at the stack of pancakes with a dubious look on his face. He was actually hungry today. But the possibility of spending the rest of the morning leaning over the toilet wasn't as appealing as the strawberries and whip cream on the pancakes. Being able to look at his food and actually be able to see it was a welcome change in his condition. But he still didn't feel one hundred percent. Whatever the future held, at least he was on solid ground with Steve. And Grace was glowing at the chance to take care of her father.

That was a bitter pill to swallow, that right now he needed Grace almost more than she needed him. The same could be said of Steve.

His partner was there to wake him up if his nightmares trapped him inside either that confining freezer or the pressing darkness of the lava tube. Each of them refusing to release him from the strangle hold of terror. The first night had been the worst, because it had been a new moon and so dark that Danny was positive that he'd lost his sight again. It had taken Steve more than an hour to break through the all-consuming fear and find the rational man that Danny generally was. It had been terrifying for both of them. Danny's life had been anything but rational in the last year and now his emotions were more frayed and volatile than they had ever been. He didn't know how to control them.

The doctors told both him and Steve that that would change with time and distance from the incidents themselves. If Danny was completely honest with himself, he wasn't sure that he believed that. He wanted to believe, he really did. But his track record hadn't been all that stellar lately. And the traumas had been too numerous and too violent for his mind to simply _forget_ they happened. However, Danny would try. He would do his best to ensure that neither his daughter nor his friends suffered along with him. He could do that without them knowing…at least he thought that he could.

"Are you gonna eat those pancakes or just stare at them?" Steve asked with a slight smile. He reached with his fork, intent on spearing a piece of Danny's enticing looking flapjacks.

"Do it and I'll have to kill you." The detective said flatly.

Steve's eyes flashed up and he raised an eyebrow. "Over a pancake?"

Danny shook his head. "No, because you're taking advantage of an injured man. And I simply cannot not allow you to think that that is okay." He carefully cut into the syrup laden pancakes and lifted the piece to his mouth. A flip of his stomach had him grimacing before he forced the pancake past his lips.

To his immense surprise it actually tasted good. It took some effort, but he managed to chew and swallow that first bite. That led to another and another until he had to set his fork down and lean back. He wasn't able to eat much of the food, but he certainly tried. Deep down Danny wasn't sure if it was the food or the please looks on his partner's and his daughter's faces.

"Good?" Steve asked after Grace excused herself to go to the restroom.

"The food's good, yes." Danny said quickly.

"No. Are you _good_?" Steve corrected with a sincere expression.

The blonde head tilted to the side and sighed. "Things are still a bit blurry. But it's getting clearer every day. My arm still aches and I'm still pretty tired. But all in all? I'm okay, Steven." He watched as his partner scrutinized him and finally accepted what Danny had told him and nodded.

"Are we going to be okay?" Steve asked in a soft voice. He refused to meet Danny's questioning gaze.

The smaller man's blue gaze lifted and reached out with his casted right arm, gently touching his friend's arm in order to get his attention. "Steven?" He waited to continue until the other man brought his eyes up and met Danny's earnest gaze. "Do you know what kept me going when I was in that freezer? When I was certain that I was going to die."

Steve shook his head and swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

"You. Five-0. Grace and Charlie." Danny glanced down as he collected himself. "My family." He padded Steve's arm as Grace made her way back to the table, a wide smile on her face. "So yeah, Steve. _We're_ fine…better than fine."

"Guess who I found in the bathroom?" Grace said with laugh.

"I can't imagine sweetheart." Danny answered.

Steve looked up and couldn't stop the smile as he saw Chin, Kono, and Lou making their way through the crowded restaurant. "Well, it seems like the _family_ couldn't wait to see you."

H50 H50

 _Two months later…_

Danny stared up the large statue of King Kamehameha and took a breath before moving toward the entrance of the palace. He knew that his team would be on the second floor, where they always were, and that they had no idea he was planning on returning today. The doctors had cleared him three weeks ago, but rather than rushing back into the job, he'd taken that time and spent it with Grace and getting his strength back.

He was still thinner than he'd ever been at any other point in his life, but the muscle tone was coming back and he was making strides forward. He'd gone back to running and he was finally back to jogging the requisite two miles that department demanded. Danny was still struggling with his wind, but again…it was all a process.

Steve had been supportive, almost too much so. Danny had snapped at him the other morning when he'd insisted on timing Danny's morning run. He wasn't ready to pull out the stopwatch yet and it irritated him that Steve was so damn competitive. He hadn't been immune to the expression of hurt that had spread across his partners face and then disappeared as his stoic mask slid easily into place. Steve had simply nodded and then headed out of the room. Danny had debated on following him, but he decided against it.

While he and Steve were better than they'd ever been, there still needed to be boundaries. That was something that had never really been established between them. Well, he'd tried to put some boundaries up, but Steve had bulldozed his way through every one that Danny tried to raise.

That night they'd had everybody over for a bbq and he and Steve had talked over beer and steak. It had been a good night. He'd explained his need for space. Steve had listened and nodded along, but Danny could tell that his friend didn't understand. He wanted to help the detective every step of the way rather than allowing Danny to fail on occasion. That was Steve's greatest strength and also his biggest weakness. The unconditional love and support the man had for his friends…hell, at this point Danny knew that they were more than friends. They truly were family. And family needed to respect each other and while Danny knew that Steve respected his abilities as a cop, he needed Steve to respect his ability to come back from the terrible events of the last year.

The taller man had finally smiled when he understood what Danny was asking for.

" _Let me know if you need help. I'll be there." He had struggled to get the words out, but the emotionally stunted military man had finally managed._

 _Danny smiled and nodded. "Can you get me another beer?"_

Staring up at the large building that had been converted into the Five-0 offices, Danny swallowed and then took the first steps back toward his life.

 **The End**

 **Author's Note:** _I am planning on writing an epilogue, which will set up another case. But life got crazy busy so that may be a few weeks. Thank you to everyone that has read and reviewed this trilogy. I hope that you have enjoyed it and look forward to the next adventures of Five-0._

 **Please Review: It is appreciated, so very much.**


	18. Epilogue

Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

 **Chapter Eighteen**

Epilogue:

Danny dove for a fifty-gallon drum and ducked down just as a bullet _pinged_ off the pillar he'd been standing in front of a moment earlier. His elbow banged into the concrete and he winced at the shock of pain. "Steve!" He called out as the bullets continued to fly. He was completely pinned down, which meant that his partner was going to have to get the drop on the guy currently showering Danny with lead. Another bullet whizzed just above his head and he quickly folded himself even smaller.

"Danny!" Steve's voice was barely audible above the constant gunfire. Danny tried to peek around the barrel, but another bullet had him quickly pulling back against the drum.

The detective frowned as he heard the bank heist crew communicating between themselves. "Did you see where the little one went?"

 _Little one?_ Assholes! Were they referring to him? Danny felt the old irritation about his height rise to the surface and he quickly popped out his magazine to see how many bullets he had left. He'd already gone through his two others and he was down to his last backup. "Shit." He murmured when he realized he had five shots left. That was probably not going to be enough to get him out the sticky situation he now found himself in.

He'd been back at work for six months and his over protective partner had been far too cautious for Danny's comfort. Steve had made sure that he and Danny took the easiest parts of the cases. He'd send Chin and Kono out long before he and Danny would head out to the crime scene. It had finally caused Danny to call him out on it.

 _That_ had been a fun conversation. Not! He and Steve had argued about their involvement and finally Danny had turned to argument back on his best friend. "If this was you and I was doing this to _you_ , you'd be climbing out the window to do your job." Danny said as calmly as he was able. "What makes you think I'm any different?"

Steve's eyebrows cut together in frustration. Danny knew that his friend wanted to protect him. Keep him safe and Danny loved him for that. But the truth was, Danny was feeling as close to one hundred percent as he was likely to get. He'd managed to gain back the weight he'd lost, his run times were only slightly slower than they'd before the whole incident last year, and he was itching for some action.

"Danny, after last year…" Steve's words abandoned him and he struggled to put his emotions in perspective for his friend. "I know what it's like to lose you. To think that you're dead and I can't…I can't live with that."

Danny's face softened as he recognized the vulnerability in Steve's gaze. "Steven, our job doesn't allow either of us to think that way. There's a very good chance that neither one of us will die an old man. But in the mean time? I want to help as many people as I can." He reached out and patted Steve on the arm. "Remember when I told you about why I do this?"

The taller man smiled slightly. "Yeah, first day we met right?"

The blonde nodded. "I told you that 'I need this'. I can't imagine being anything but a cop and I wouldn't want to. So if you and I are going to remain partners, then you have to let me carry my half of that partnership."

Steve's face had shifted between a myriad of emotions before finally settling on agreement. He pulled in a slow breath and then finally looked directly at Danny. "Okay." It was soft and had none of the acerbic tones that he usually reserved for the Jersey detective.

That had been the beginning of new working relationship between them. It had taken Steve a few reminders that they had agreed to this before he was able to allow Danny out of his sight. Another bullet zinged past the detective and he pulled even further into the corner. Of course that might all have been a mistake considering his current dilemma. "You might as well come out detective Williams. We know where you are hiding. And there is no escape for you or Five-0."

He hated when the bad guys did the 'monologue'. That whole 'you're about to die' thing got really old in this line of work. Danny let his gaze wander his tiny corner and he narrowed his eyes when he saw a small electrical outlet in the wall about three feet from him. The area wasn't very well lit even with the sparse overhead lights. If he was able to blow the circuits, he might give Five-0 a chance to walk away from this one."

A feeling that was too close to nausea flitted through his belly and Danny bit his lip to control the sudden uncomfortable sensation. He didn't know if it was from nerves or something else, but then again, that didn't really matter. The sounds of gunfire continued to swirl around him as he carefully flattened himself to the floor and scooted toward the outlet. The rough feel of the concrete pulled on his bare forearms and he ignored the slight burn of the abrasions.

"Danny!" Steve called frantically from somewhere inside the warehouse. He was too far away to do the detective any good and he was too close for Danny's comfort. He couldn't let his partner know where he was or it would blow his chances at killing the lights and giving them all a chance to go home tonight.

A brief flash of Grace and Charlie had him swallowing a lump that threatened to choke him. The smell of black powder was so heavy in the area that it was difficult to make out anything else. The warehouse was supposed to have been abandoned, but as evidenced by their current situation? That wasn't exactly accurate. He carefully reached down and pulled out his pocketknife. Flicking it open, he sent up a silent prayer and then plunged the thing into the socket before he could rethink this incredibly stupid thing he was about to do.

There was a momentary flash of blinding white light and a shock as the electricity tried to find a ground. He felt himself thrown back as the arc grounded through another area, but the lights did indeed go out.

H50 H50

Steve was frantic as he raced through the warehouse. He knew that this was a shitty deal. The entire team was split up to hell and back, but the one he was trying desperately to find, was Danny. Chin, Kono, and Lou were all behind them, since Steve and Danny had gone in first. They'd barely made it into the main area before all hell broke loose and they were both diving for cover. Last he'd seen Danny, it was as the smaller man disappeared down a staircase toward the main floor. Steve was stuck in the perms of the building.

While that gave him a better view, it didn't allow him to follow his friend. "Danny!" He called. Gunfire continued to answer his cries for his friend. No answer came from Danny. The dank smell inside the warehouse was bringing back unpleasant memories of his time with Wo Fat, but Steve shoved those unpleasant thoughts into his gut. He raced toward a pillar at the end of the perm, his experience telling him that Danny would be somewhere near that on the main floor.

A man stepped out from behind the pillar onto the two-foot wide walk-way. He had a gun trained on Steve's chest. "Whoa, you don't want to do that." Steve said as he racked his brain for a way out of this mess.

The younger guy tilted his head to the side, his long black hair slipped over his shoulder as a cocky grin spread across his face. "Oh yeah? And why is that?"

Steve internally rolled his eyes at the inexperienced question. "All your crew has done is rob a bank. You kill a cop? Your life is over." He couldn't believe he was negotiating with a criminal. That was more Danny's thing that Steve's. He was the 'shoot first ask questions later' kind of cop. That was one of the things that made them such a good fit as partners. He pushed Danny to take action and Danny held him back and made his think about his actions.

There was a flash indecision on the kid's face. "Kenny! Finish the job!" Steve's gaze flashed over to the floor; there standing just beneath them was another member of their crew. His eyes flashed back to Kenny and the kid lifted the gun again. Before he could take aim, Steve aimed his pistol at the boy's shoulder and took the shot.

There was a moment of shock on Kenny's face before he dropped the 9mm and then toppled off the perm toward the concrete below. Steve watched in surprise as the kid fell the almost ninety feet to the unyielding ground below.

The lights in the warehouse blinked out as a bright flash pulled Steve's attention to another area of the room. He thought he caught a glimpse of Danny's blonde hair, but he couldn't be sure. There was a sickening thud in the darkness.

The man that had been egging the kid on from the ground cried out in anger. "No!"

Steve rushed for the ladder and quickly climbed down. He was careful to keep his gun close at hand. As he dropped to the floor, he saw Chin coming around the corner. The Hawaiian native's dark hair was barely visible in the darkness. "Chin?"

"Steve, you okay?" Chin lowered the barrel of the shotgun.

Kono slipped around the corner, her own rifle held up until she heard her cousin's voice. "Everyone okay?"

Lou stepped out of the hallway that led to the offices in the warehouse. "They're gone." His eyes dropped to the broken form the one that fell from the perms. "Well, almost all of them."

"Where's Danny?" Steve asked as his heart froze in his chest. His eyes were immediately searching the area and he spun toward the area where he'd seen the flash.

"Danny?!" He called out as he lifted his gun and moved toward the area. All the fear of the last year attacked his confidence and he worried that he'd again lost Danny to some weird act.

Chin and Kono were immediately on his tail, Lou went to check on the vitals of the boy that had tumbled to the floor.

Steve was just coming around the final crate when Danny stumbled forward. He was holding his side and his hair was standing up, but he was alive. "I'm here, Steve." He said quietly.

Steve rushed forward and wrapped him in a hug. "What happened?"

He shrugged and then winced in pain. "Killed the lights. Did they get away?"

"All but one, unfortunately." Kono said as he patted Danny on the shoulder. "You good?"

"A little worse for ware, but yeah, I'm good." The Jersey man answered with a nod.

Lou caught up with the group. "Kid's dead."

Steve nodded as he slipped Danny's arm over his shoulders and started toward the exit. "We're gonna have to start over. This team was a bitch to find the first time." His heart rate was dropping now that he had his entire team surrounding him.

Siren's broke the silence of the air as the Five-0 team exited the warehouse into the hot humid night. Danny took more and more of his weight as the effects of the electricity lessened.

"You sure you're okay?" Steve asked as they walked toward the Camaro. He felt Danny sigh next to him, before he looked over at his partner.

"Better than ever my friend. Better than ever." Danny said with a slight smile. "Can't say I like being hit with electricity, but I'm good."

Steve nodded and squashed his desire to ask if Danny was sure. Instead he reached up and ruffled Danny's untidy hair.

"Yeah, it wasn't all that kind to your perfectly quaffed hair either." There was humor in his voice and Danny looked over at him.

"What's wrong with my hair?"

Steve looked at the blonde locks standing on end. "Nothing. It's perfect buddy." He lied.

Danny stopped and turned to look at him. His head tilted to the side and eventually smiled. "Ya know what? I don't think I believe you."

"No really. You could totally hit up a club with that hair."

The blue eyes narrowed. "I don't go to clubs. You don't go to club. How do you even know about the clubs in Honolulu?"

"I hear things." Steve shot back with a cheeky grin.

"Mmmhmm." Danny answered as he pulled the door to the passenger's side of the car open. He sat down gingerly. He was careful to hide the wince as he settled back against the leather seat.

Steve slid into the driver's seat; he glanced over once before turning on the car. "Good to have you back, Danny." He said seriously.

His partner reached up and smoothed his hair down before looking over at him. "Me too." He said simply.

H50 H50

A pair of dark eyes watched as the elite team of cops drove out of the area. Tear tracks had barely started to dry on his tanned skin. His hands were fisted into balls and his body nearly vibrated with hate. He'd watched the team surround the smaller blonde man and in that moment he'd learned the weakness of the Five-0 team. And they were going to pay for the death of Kenny.

Blood for blood.

End of Epilogue.

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _Okay, here's the promised epilogue. Hope you guys enjoyed seeing Danny and Steve back in action. I also found the set up for the next story. So if you're interested in that, let me know. Thanks for reading._

 **Please drop a review.**


	19. Epilogue 2

The newest story in the Danny and Steve partnership is now up. The story is called, Never Say Uncle and it picks up after the last three stories with an old enemy and a new problem. Danny is in trouble and Steve is desperate to save him, but saving an American cop from a South American prison is easier said than done. Taking inspiration from the show and making it my own. Please check it out.


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